Spy story stumps diplomatic community 'Usually...you don't have farewell parties if you've been expelled:' Former protocol chief. By Kristen Shane, Carl Meyer Published January 25, 2012    1 Comment

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Current and former members of the Ottawa diplomatic community were left with more questions than answers after news emerged last week alleging Russian diplomats were expelled in connection with the case of a Canadian naval officer accused of passing secrets to a "foreign entity."

On Jan. 16, Canadian naval intelligence officer Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Paul Delisle was charged under the Security of Information Act with communicating information that, in the words of the Act, may "increase the capacity of a foreign entity or a terrorist group to harm Canadian interests."

Three days later, media reports began surfacing of a Canadian intelligence leak to Moscow, and named possible Russian embassy staff members involved. But within hours of these stories, other Canadian news outlets began reporting that friends and colleagues of two of the named diplomats had held goodbye parties for them—and they departed weeks before Mr. Delisle was charged.

South African acting high commissioner Anesh Maistry held one of those parties, for attaché Konstantin Kolpakov, on Dec. 20 at his home. Embassy staff attended along with about 15 other journalists, diplomats, and others.

"Personally, I just think that at the present moment this is just media speculation," said Mr. Maistry, on Jan. 22, upon reading the news.

"Nothing tangible has come out, considering that the Canadian government hasn't put anything down officially; they haven't announced anything."

Norwegian Ambassador Else Berit Eikeland was similarly struck by the commentary bouncing around in media reports.

"There seems to be a lot of speculation in the media now about these people," she said, "I really want to have it confirmed or get some more information."

Former Canadian ambassador to Russia Christopher Westdal said the diplomatic community was likely buzzing about "the rush to judgment."

He said in instances like this, diplomats would be writing reports home about the story, about how it affected fellow envoys, and about the procedure of arresting Sub-Lt. Delisle under the Act.

The government has not confirmed media speculation that Mr. Delisle was spying for Russia, and none of the charges against him have been proven in court.

Foreign Minister John Baird told the Globe in the Jan. 20 report that "the matter is before the courts and on a national security file; I am just not inclined to comment at this time."

When reached later that day by Embassy, Mr. Baird's spokesperson, Joseph Lavoie, stuck by the same line, and so did Public Safety Minister Vic Toews when questioned by media during a news conference.

The Russian embassy would also not comment on the story on Jan. 20. But Russia's foreign ministry posted on Twitter that "Canadian media reports of Russian diplomats being expelled from Canada are surprising, as they left in 2011 on completing their secondment."

Not much is known about two administrative and technical staff that were named in reports, Mikhail Nikiforov and Tatiana Steklova. They were not well-known within the diplomatic community that regularly attends receptions and events.

Mr. Kolpakov and another one of the named Russian envoys, assistant defence attaché Lt.-Col. Dmitry Fedorchatenko, however, were more known as they attended such events. Embassy profiled Mr. Kolpakov for a story published in August. A tall, soft-spoken man from Kazan, he joined the Russian foreign service in 2004 and had served in Canada since November 2006.

As an attaché, he worked a variety of jobs while in Canada including organizing the Russian delegation's logistics for the 2010 G8 and G20 summits in Canada and, more recently, working as an assistant to the ambassador.

Mr. Maistry knew him professionally through diplomatic functions and said Mr. Kolpakov told him in September of his coming departure. Friends of Mr. Kolpakov said he had told them he would leave Canada at Christmas.

"I don't know if there's much credible [information] in the newspaper articles surrounding the fact that he was removed off the diplomatic list, because he was removed off the diplomatic list in January—the man had left already just before Christmas. So it's really for me quite immaterial and not really plausible," he said.

German defence attaché Lt.-Col. Kay Kuhlen told Postmedia News that Department of National Defence officials informed him in early November that Lt.-Col. Fedorchatenko would be leaving that month. Another goodbye party was hosted for him "after nearly three years in Ottawa," at the Venezuelan embassy on Nov. 10. It added he left Canada "a few days later."

Robert Collette, a former chief of protocol for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, said the link between Russian envoys and Sub-Lt. Delisle was a believable story, "but it could also be a story that doesn't have credibility."

"You could also take it apart, given that they all left, and given that at least two of them had farewell parties. Usually...you don't have farewell parties if you've been expelled...it's not a moment that you want to savour."

Mr. Collette, who spent 35 years with the department, said when he was there staff tried to update the diplomatic list as quickly as possible after a change. It wasn't done every day, but maybe once a month, he said.

He said that when someone is made persona non grata and expelled—the toughest action Canada can take against a diplomat—they typically leave within 24 to 48 hours, or perhaps a week.

It's possible that a diplomat causing the ire of a host country may not be declared persona non grata but that an agreement is reached between the two parties, he said. That could give diplomats more time to leave.

He also said it is unusual but the government could declare a diplomat persona non grata after they have left to ensure they never come back, as a kind of "life sentence."

But he noted that the public could only speculate on the facts of the case until further information is released by governments or through the court system.

Long history of spycraft

After Soviet embassy clerk Igor Gouzenko's 1945 defection revealed the presence of Soviet spying in Canada, Russia and Canada took turns expelling a number of each other's diplomats throughout the 1970s and '80s.

In those Cold War days, Mr. Collette said, countries conducted tit-for-tat expulsions in which the people expelled were not always sanctioned for their own actions, but in general retaliation.

Now, he said, "We would not normally engage in a tit-for-tat."

The last Russian diplomats to be expelled from Canada were in November 2002, when two left for "activities in Canada inconsistent with their diplomatic status." In response, Russia expelled two Canadian diplomats the next month.

Russia also expelled two Canadian diplomats working at a NATO information office in Moscow in May 2009, but assured then-foreign minister Lawrence Cannon that it was meant to be a protest against NATO, not Canada.

Russia-Canada relations under the Harper Conservatives have sometimes been tense. Canada supported Georgia's territorial integrity and sovereignty during the Georgia-Russia war in August 2008, and Defence Minister Peter MacKay in February 2009 linked a Russian bomber flight to US President Barack Obama's visit to Ottawa. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he was concerned about the "increasingly aggressive Russian actions around the globe."

But in recent months, the relationship seemed to have warmed somewhat with signs that Mr. Harper's statements towards Russia were shifting.

As for the current spy story, "we've had spies in the 1940s and we continue to have them. It's a different kind of spying, but it still takes place," said Mr. Collette.

CTV Ottawa bureau chief Robert Fife, who was one of the earliest to report the expulsions, noted to Embassy in an interview that the government has not denied the facts of his story.

"[There are] a lot of things we still don't know," he said. He was reluctant to talk about how he does his stories.

"Stories that are about espionage or about intelligence are kind of like onions—they get peeled back layer after layer," said Christopher Waddell, director of the Carleton University School of Journalism and Communication.

Making the decision when to report is a function of whom a reporter's sources are, whether they are in a position to know what they say, their motives behind sharing the information, and what the implications of reporting something wrong would be.

He noted that there is still no confirmed version of how many diplomats were expelled from Canada, if any. He said it seems reasonable to assume that the most likely source of the stories was someone speaking off the record inside the government.

"In a world where no one wants to confirm anything, it's possible to write stories that speculate about lots of things," he said.

Mr. Westdal said if it turns out that the Russians were not involved, "someone will owe the Russians an apology, but I think it will be principally journalists."

kshane@embassymag.ca

cmeyer@embassymag.ca

How the story changed

Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, 9:59 P.M.

The Globe and Mail: "The Globe and Mail has learned...that a number of Russian embassy staff—more than one—have left Canada in connection with the alleged spy affair.

"A Russian embassy official acknowledged the following three staffers have recently left Canada, saying, however, that all departures were routine:

- Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry V. Fedorchatenko, assistant defence attaché.

- Konstantin Kolpakov, attaché.

- Mikhail Nikiforov, with the administrative and technical staff.

"The embassy did not provide a clear explanation for the fourth name now gone from Canada's official list of diplomatic, consular and foreign government representatives: Tatiana Steklova, who had been described as 'administrative and technical staff.'

"All four of these names were part of the official Foreign Affairs daily list as of Jan. 18 and were also part of a monthly January, 2012, list the department recently published.

"The four names disappeared from the daily list as of Jan. 19."

Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, 10:08 P.M.

CTVNews.ca: "Explosive allegations of espionage that centre on a Canadian intelligence leak to Moscow have resulted in the expulsion of four Russian embassy staff members from their stations in Ottawa, CTV News has learned...

"Along with two unnamed embassy workers, Canada has sent Lt.-Col. Dmitry Fedorchatenko and Konstantin Kolpakov packing."

Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, 10:11 A.M.

Postmedia News: "A number of Russian embassy officials have been expelled from Canada in connection with an alleged espionage affair, it has been reported...

"Postmedia News has confirmed that at least one of the Russian diplomats, Konstantin Kolpakov, left on Dec. 25 at the end of his scheduled term. That was before this week's charges against Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Paul Delisle under the Security of Information Act."

Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, late morning/early afternoon

CBC News: "Two Russian Embassy staff in Ottawa have left Canada in the wake of spying allegations against a Canadian naval officer in Halifax, CBC News has confirmed.

"Initial media reports said up to four Russian Embassy staff had been removed from a list of embassy and diplomatic staff recognized by Canada. CBC News has confirmed that two have had their credentials revoked since news broke of the naval officer's arrest, while two diplomats left the country a month or more before the arrest this week of Canadian Sub.-Lt. Jeffrey Paul Delisle.

"Konstantin Kolpakov, a former aide to the ambassador, was scheduled to leave Canada on Dec. 25 because his posting was over, and had a send-off attended by diplomats around Ottawa mid-month.

"CBC News has also learned Lt.-Col. Dmitry V. Fedorchatenko, assistant defence attaché, was scheduled to leave in November.

"The two others, Mikhail Nikiforov and Tatiana Steklova, were listed as administrative and technical staff."

Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, 5:11 P.M.

Postmedia News: "Two Russian diplomats reported as having been expelled in connection with an espionage case against a Canadian naval officer were at the end of their terms and scheduled to leave weeks and months before the charges were laid, Postmedia News has learned."

Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, afternoon

Canadian Press: "Multiple sources within the diplomatic community say at least of two of the staffers—defence attache Lt.-Col. Dmitry Fedorchatenko and Third Secretary Konstantin Kolpakov—left the country weeks before the arrest of Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Delisle on charges of violating the Security of Information Act."

Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, 10:06 P.M.

CTVNews.ca: "[CTV News reporter Robert] Fife exclusively reported Thursday that four Russian embassy staffers were expelled from Canada as a result. Officials in Moscow denied that, saying the staffers went home because their contracts in Canada had finished up...

"The officials in question include two unnamed embassy workers and Lt.-Col. Dmitry Fedorchatenko and Konstantin Kolpakov.

"Other media reports suggest that the workers left Canada weeks before the scandal broke.

"Ottawa is remaining tightlipped about its investigation of Delisle because it doesn't want Russians to pick up any clues about how the alleged crime was discovered, Fife reported."

Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, 10:22 P.M.

The Globe and Mail: "The Kremlin officially denied reports that Russian diplomats were asked to leave Canada over an alleged spy affair although Russia's embassy in Ottawa has been instructed to make no public comment on the matter for now...

"The Globe and Mail has learned that more than one Russian diplomat was asked to leave Canada in connection with the alleged espionage case.

"At least four embassy staffers have departed Canada recently although it's not clear which exits can be tied to the controversy, which only came to light Monday."

Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, 5:56 A.M.

The Globe and Mail: "Russian media has had next to no reaction to reports this week by Canadian news outlets that four Russian diplomats, all military attachés, were expelled from Canada as spies."

-Compiled by Kristen Shane