Canada decided to revoke the citizenship of one born in Toronto the son of Russian spies
Moscow. May 28. INTERFAX.RU — the government of Canada initiated a lawsuit that aims to revoke a canadian passport is the son of Russian spies Alex Vavilov, transfers on Monday Agency Associated Press.
“The government of Canada stated that (Vavilov — ed) has no right to be a citizen (Canada — red), and filed an appeal to the Supreme court to revoke a passport previously issued to him by a lower court”, — is spoken in the message.
In turn, Vavilov said that he knew nothing of the intelligence activities of their parents. In a recent interview with canadian TV channel CBC, he said: “I pose no threat. I am a canadian citizen and want to live here with his life.”
According to the Associated Press, “those who support Vavilov, say the son should not pay for the sins of their parents, while critics say that his claim to citizenship is based on deception, as his parents, living in Toronto, used the stolen personal information and collected intelligence for Moscow.”
Under canadian law, children born in the country automatically become citizens. However, the exception to this rule are the children of foreign diplomats. According to the canadian authorities, the fact that Vavilov was born in Canada, does not mean that the young person can apply for citizenship, because his parents worked for the foreign country and were his representatives.
In turn, the lawyer Vavilov States that in this case, the physical place of birth of his client plays a more important role than the occupation of his parents, as they were not official Russian representatives.
The Agency noted that if Vavilov will win the case against the canadian government and will be able to maintain the status of a citizen, probably his older brother, Timothy will also be able to retain canadian citizenship.
According to Western media, the parents of Alex and Timothy, Russian intelligence, Andrei Bezrukov and Elena Vavilova, arrived in Canada in 1980-ies. They were part of the intelligence network that operated in North America.
In June 2010, the us authorities arrested ten Russian agents on suspicion of spying. Among them were Bezrukov and Vavilova, as well as Anna Chapman, Richard and Cynthia Murphy, Juan Lazaro and others. Shortly after the arrest they were exchanged for scientist Igor Sutyagin and former security officials, Sergei Skripal, Alexander Zaporozhsky and Gennady Vasilenko, convicted in Russia for espionage. The exchange took place at Vienna airport.