Spies’ exiled kids battle to reclaim their citizenship
It’s the stuff of a gripping spy thriller — international intrigue, stolen identities, even a mail-order diaper business.
But for two brothers who were stripped of their Canadian citizenship when their parents were unmasked as Russian spies, none of that is important. The only thing that matters to them is the return of what they see as their birthright: their citizenship.
Former Toronto residents Alexander Vavilov, 21, and his older brother, Timothy, 25, are in the midst of a legal battle to get their citizenship back, arguing they shouldn’t be penalized for the sins of their parents.
“It is not fair to punish us for something we have nothing to do with. We have done nothing wrong,” Alexander Vavilov told the Star in an exclusive interview from an undisclosed city in Europe, where he is studying for an undergraduate degree.
Brothers say they shouldn’t be punished for sins of their parents, who were unmasked as Russian moles
Alexander said he and Timothy, who is working in the financial industry in Asia, were astonished when FBI agents burst into their home in Cambridge, Mass., on Timothy’s birthday on June 27, 2010, and took their parents.
“Never once in my 16 years of life had they done anything that seemed odd or unexplainable,” Vavilov said. “It was shocking for me, even after they admitted to working for the Russian government while in the U.S.”
Now, he said, he feels he is living “in exile” because of past events completely beyond his control. “I believe that if I don’t fight for my rightful citizenship, I may never be able to return to my birthplace.”
Alexander and Timothy have never been in trouble with the law, though it’s a different story for their parents — Andrey Bezrukov and Elena Vavilova — who acquired their new personas by stealing the identities of two dead Canadians, Donald Heathfield and Tracey Ann Foley.
Ottawa would not even have been aware of the identity theft if FBI agents had not arrested them in 2010 for espionage in the United States, where the family lived for 11 years before they were booted out and deported to Moscow in a spy swap.
In stripping the brothers of their citizenship, Ottawa ruled their Russian parents were employees of a foreign government when they’d lived in Canada, and hence the boys should be excluded from the privilege. Current immigration law stipulates citizenship rights do not ex- tend to children born in Canada to diplomatic or consular officers, or employees of a foreign government, or a specialized agency of the United Nations — groups that are granted diplomatic privileges and immunities.
Officials have never accused the couple of spying in Canada, saying only that they stole their Canadian identities “for the purpose of building their legends in Canada prior to relocating as foreign agents to the U.S., their primary target.”
In August 2014, the Registrar of Canadian Citizenship refused to issue citizenship certificates to the Canadian-born brothers under their amended surname, Vavilov.
“Mr. Vavilov does not dispute his parents’ status as illegals in the United States, nor does he dispute that their Canadian citizenship and passports were obtained by fraud,” wrote Federal Court Justice Richard Bell in a recent ruling upholding the federal government’s decision in Alexander’s case. “There is adequate evidence on the record to reasonably conclude that his parents’ presence in Canada constituted part of their (spying) mission for the Russian government.”
However, the brothers’ lawyer, Hadayt Nazami, insists Alexander and Timothy are innocent victims in this case. “Punishing children for the deeds of their parents is morally and legally wrong,” said Nazami, who has filed an appeal challenging the lower court ruling.
“When you broaden the definition of ‘foreign government employees’ to those who have no relations with the functions of an embassy — once you open that door, there is no limit,” Nazami said.
According to court documents, both Bezrukov and Vavilova told officials they were neither paid by or in contact with Russian authorities while living in Toronto. They attended school here — Vavilova took computer courses, and Bezrukov went to York University and later became a partner in a mail-order diaper business based in Mississauga.
The family moved to France in1995, according to court documents, and four years later to Boston, where Bezrukov began studies at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. They were arrested in 2010 and deported to Moscow.
Being forced to move to Russia and assume a different identity “had a pronounced effect on me,” Vavilov said. Though the family had lived outside Canada for years, Vavilov said he and his brother returned to their birthplace often to see friends and on ski trips. “Whether or not the government decides to reissue my citizenship, I will always be Canadian at heart,” Vavilov said. “I have grown up that way and believe it to be my only identity.”