Report: Canada Expels 4 Russian Diplomats over Spy Case
Canada has expelled four Russian diplomats following the arrest last weekend of a Canadian soldier charged with leaking secrets to a foreign entity, a newspaper reported Friday.
Canada's Globe and Mail said the four diplomats had been removed from the list of envoys officially recognized by Canada, while the CBC news service said at least some of them had left the country over the spying case.
The Globe and Mail cited a Russian embassy official as saying that any departures were part of routine staff rotations and unrelated to the spy case.
Jeffrey Paul Delisle, 40, has been accused of communicating over the past five years "with a foreign entity information that the government of Canada is taking measures to safeguard," court documents revealed Monday.
The charges were laid out under the Security of Information Act. Delisle also faces a breach of trust charge under the Criminal Code.
The offenses allegedly occurred in the capital Ottawa, Halifax and in towns in Ontario and Nova Scotia provinces, the court documents said. They did not however reveal his rank or details about the information leak.
Convictions under the security act carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Source: Agence France Presse
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