Feds appeal ruling that returned citizenship to Russian spies’ son

OTTAWA — The federal government is appealing a court decision that handed Canadian citizenship back to the Toronto-born son of Russian spies after it was revoked by Ottawa.

In asking the Supreme Court of Canada to hear the case, the government says the “absurd result” of the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision “raises important issues about the integrity of Canadian citizenship” and should not be allowed to stand.

It likely will be several weeks before the Supreme Court decides whether to hear the case.

In June, the appeal court ruled in Alexander Vavilov’s favour — the latest turn in a spy saga brimming with international intrigue.

Vavilov, 23, was born in 1994 as Alexander Philip Anthony Foley to Donald Heathfield and Tracey Ann Foley. The following year the family — including an older boy, Timothy — left Canada for France, where they spent four years before moving to the United States.

One day in June 2010, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation turned up at the family’s Bostonarea home.

In all, 11 people — four of whom claimed to be Canadian — were indicted on charges of conspiring to act as secret agents in the United States on behalf of the SVR, the Russian Federation’s successor to the KGB.

Heathfield and Foley admitted to being Andrey Bezrukov and Elena Vavilova.

Bezrukov and Vavilova were among those sent back to Moscow — part of a swap for prisoners in Russia. Alexander finished high school in Russia.

He changed his surname to Vavilov on the advice of Canadian officials in a bid to obtain a Canadian passport. He was denied citizenship by a registrar, but in June the appeal court quashed the registrar’s decision.