CANBERRA — Mikhail Petrakov (L), Russia's ambassador and spouse with Australia's Governor-General | Embassy of Russia in Australia
The spouses of the Ukrainian, Italian and Estonian ambassadors resigned spectacularly after the Women's International Club of Canberra admitted Irina Petrakova as a member.
CANBERRA — A fight has broken out in Australia’s diplomatic community.
The spouses of Ukraine’s, Italy’s and Estonia’s ambassadors to Australia have resigned from the Women’s International Club of Canberra after it admitted Irina Petrakova, wife of Russia’s ambassador.
WIC president Sandie Kaine said the club admitted Petrakova after receiving legal advice that refusing her membership because of her country of origin would breach discrimination law.
Liana Myroshnychenko, spouse of Ukraine’s ambassador, said in an email to club members that her objection was to Petrakova’s role as a representative of Russia, not her nationality.
Lawrence Meredith, the European Union ambassador to Australia, speaking on behalf of the bloc’s ambassadors, told POLITICO they are “deeply disappointed” by the decision to admit Petrakova. “The EU can accept no normalization of Russia’s brutal and illegal invasion of Ukraine, whatsoever.”
Canberra’s diplomats have largely shunned Russia’s ambassador Mikhail Petrakov and his wife since his diplomatic credentials were accepted by Governor-General Sam Mostyn in September 2025.
WIC’s admission of Petrakova follows it electing Irina Logvinova, spouse of the then Russian Ambassador Grigory Logvinov, as club vice-president for 2017-18.
Logvinova served in the role three years after Russia seized and annexed Crimea, ahead of its broader invasion in 2022. She posted on Facebook at the time that one of her responsibilities in the role was to “promote favorable image of #Russia in #Australia.”
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is now in its fifth year and it occupies roughly one-fifth of the country.
Kaine, WIC’s president, said in an emailed statement: “The Russian Ambassador’s spouse was admitted to WIC in accordance with the law and the WIC Constitution.”
In response, Liana Myroshnychenko, spouse of Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, emailed the WIC membership list Nov. 3 explaining her resignation.
In the email, seen by POLITICO, Myroshnychenko expressed gratitude for the friendships formed through the club, then wrote she cannot share a club with “the spouse of the ambassador of a country that is, at this very moment, destroying my country and devastating the lives of my people.”
“This is not about a Russian woman simply because she is Russian,” but because she is in Australia representing “the country that killed my cousin, burned my friend alive, took the lives of many of my friends from school and university,” Myroshnychenko wrote.
“She represents a Russia that kills, maims, commits sexual violence and subjects people to horrific torture — a Russia for which, through its actions, the value of human life appears to be disregarded. This includes the lives of the 38 Australian passengers who were on board MH17,” the Malaysian Airlines plane shot down by Russian forces over Ukraine in July 2014.
WIC was established in 1964, and advertises “more than 300 Members, representing over 50 countries.”
There are no values-based criteria for joining WIC, which describes membership as “a privilege” founded upon regular participation in club activities such as bridge, mahjong, tennis, book clubs, and language groups.
Most democratic governments continue to take a tough line against Russia in diplomatic forums.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong joined a boycott of a group photo with her Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov at an October G20 ministerial meeting. The photo session was canceled.
In October Petrakov attended the National Press Club address of Australian Greens leader David Shoebridge prompting a rebuke from Vasyl Myroshnychenko, Ukraine’s ambassador, who said it was “appalling that he actually shows up there.”
Shoebridge, who has faced scrutiny over the Greens position against sending weapons or military aid to Ukraine — unless it is backed by a United Nations Security Council resolution — said Petrakov was “one hundred per cent not welcome” and had not been invited.
Nongovernmental organizations are grappling with similar issues, drawing different lines about what level of personal responsibility Russian citizens must take for the actions of their government.
The International Olympic Committee’s approach has shifted from suspending the Russian Olympic Committee to withdrawing its general recommendation that Russian athletes be barred from Olympic participation, leaving decisions about flags, officials and events to individual sports bodies.
Delegations from Russia, Ukraine and the United States are due to meet in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 10 to discuss ending the war, security arrangements, and humanitarian issues.
The Russian government declined to comment.