Diplomats warn Canada of Russian meddling
OTTAWA 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.
Stanislav Yezhov was part of Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman’s delegation on a visit to Canada earlier this year, and was part of meetings with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, among other senior Canadian officials.
Yezhov has 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 Wednesday on accusations he’s a long-time Russian agent who has been passing that country information through electronic channels.
Groysman told lawmakers that the aide was under surveillance and without access to confidential information for some time.
A Ukrainian court ruled Friday that Yezhov would be kept in jail through Feb. 17. His defence lawyer says Yezhov pleaded not guilty.
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.
“The price of oil and gas tends to increase when there is uncertainty in the economy. A cyberattack can also increase the price of oil and gas, and Russia is very dependent on (its) supply of gas to the western world,” he explained.