Spy suspicions

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland was using a meeting in Ukraine Friday to get more information on reports that a man arrested there this week on suspicion of spying for Russia sat in on a meeting in the Prime Minister’s Office this fall.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland planned to use a Friday meeting in Ukraine to get more information on reports that a man arrested there this on suspicion of spying for Russia sat in on a meeting in the Prime Minister’s Office this fall.

But Canadian officials refused to say how seriously they take the incident, and that while Freeland would be raising it, it’s not planned to be a major topic of discussion. Multiple media outlets say Stanislav Yezhov worked as a translator during Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman’s visit to Canada earlier this year, and was part of meetings with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Yezhov also travelled with Groysman on trips to the U.S. and U.K.

But even Groysman is now accusing him of working for a “hostile state,” following Yezhov’s arrest this week on accusations he’s a long-time Russian agent who has been passing that country information through electronic channels, according to translations of statements from Ukraine’s security service and Groysman’s social media accounts. Canada does have several things to worry about when it comes to the potential for Russian meddling, said Andrzej Kurnicki, Poland’s ambassador to Canada, in a recent interview. Among them: attempts to use advanced technology to disrupt its financial system, including using misleading information to affect markets and technological tampering with information, including stored data.

The underlying reason for such an attack, said Kurnicki, would be to sow uncertainty, particularly in Canada’s natural resources sector so the turmoil would increase the value of Russia’s energy assets on world markets.