Most Canadians want former KGB spy to stay

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Less than a fifth of Canadians want a former KGB officer living in British Columbia deported from the country, according to a new nationwide poll published last Friday. IntelNews has reported before on the case of Mikhail Alexander Lennikov, a former KGB spy living in Canada with his wife and teenage son since 1992, awaiting the result of an asylum claim. Late last February, however, Canada’s Public Safety Ministry rejected Lennikov’s claim and notified him that he “can be ordered deported from the country in as early as a few weeks”. Canadian authorities have refused to reveal the precise reason for the former KGB agent’s pending deportation. But in 2007, commenting on the case of former KGB Lieutenant-Colonel Givi Abramishvili, who was deported from Canada, a government representative had said that “Canada […] is not a safe haven for those that may be a danger to national security”. Lennikov rejects accusations that he is a threat to Canada’s national security. According to the new poll cited above, many Canadians seem to agree, as only 12% want to see Lennikov deported from the country. Last Tuesday, the 48-year-old asylum seeker walked into a Lutheran church in the city of Vancoover and was been given sanctuary there. In order for Lennikov’s deportation order to be cancelled, Canada’s minister for public safety, Peter Van Loan, would have to intervene. As of last night, however, the minister had refused to step in.