Canada tries to remove the passports to the children of the Russian spy couple

According to the Canadian government, the two brothers, whose Russian parents fraudulently acquired Canadian citizenship before being arrested for spying, are not entitled to Canadian citizenship.

Tim and Alex Vavilov are the children of Donald Heathfield and Tracey Foley, a married couple arrested in 2010 under Operation GHOST STORIES, a counterintelligence program run by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). After the couple's arrest, their children, who allegedly grew up thinking their parents were Canadian, learned that their parents were in fact Russian citizens and that their real names were Andrei Bezrukov and Elena Vavilova. Their English sounding names and Canadian passports had been forged in the late 80s by the KGB, the Soviet Union's external intelligence agency.

The two brothers, who had never been to Russia prior to their parents' arrest in 2010, are now embroiled in a lengthy legal battle to retain their Canadian citizenship after the government of Canada refused to recognize their canceled passports. when it became clear that the Canadian passports of the brothers' parents were fraudulent because they contained false data.

Under the Canadian Citizenship Act, children born in Canada to "employees of a foreign government" are not eligible for Canadian nationality. But the brothers claim they were 20 and 16 when their parents were arrested and were unaware of their dual identity. It follows, they say, that they cannot be punished for their parents' crimes, and they insist that Canada is the only home they know.

Last year, Canada's Federal Court of Appeals overturned a lower court decision and ordered the government to reinstate Alex Vavilov's Canadian citizenship. According to the Court of Appeal, Vavilov could not be considered born to employees of a foreign government, since his parents were not accredited diplomats, nor did they enjoy diplomatic privileges while living in Canada. Since then, the two brothers have renewed their Canadian passports and say they hope to be able to settle and work in Canada. But the Canadian government was given until September 20 this year to decide whether to appeal the Federal Appeals Court decision and take the case to the Supreme Court.

Now the Canadian government has filed a new court application, effectively contesting the Federal Court of Appeals decision. It is his submission, the government claims that the Vavilov brothers should be deprived of Canadian citizenship because their parents were, in fact, secret employees of a foreign government. The two Russian spies may not have been accredited by the Canadian state as foreign employees, it is said, but in reality they were "committed to serving their home country."

The Supreme Court of Canada has stated that it intends to close the case by the end of the year.

Canada tries to remove the passports to the children of the Russian spy couple

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