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    • Journalist says claims he is a Russian agent are ‘fabricated’
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    Journalist says claims he is a Russian agent are ‘fabricated’

    Pabio Posted on


    <br /> <meta name="description" content="Veteran Ottawa journalist David Pugliese denies claims by former Conservative minister Chris Alexander that he acted as a Russian agent."/><meta name="keywords" content="David Pugliese, Ottawa journalist, Russian agent accusations, Chris Alexander, Conservative minister, Canadian journalism, House of Commons, Canada news"/></p> <p>A veteran Ottawa journalist is fighting back against what he considers “completely false” claims by a former Conservative minister that he acted as a Russian agent.</p> <p>David Pugliese, a reporter for the Ottawa Citizen, said in a statement published Friday on X that Chris Alexander’s claims to a House of Commons committee were ridiculous and put his family in danger.</p> <p>“His statements are entirely false and only highlight another tactic in the ongoing attacks on Canadian journalism,” Pugliese wrote.</p> <h3>Details of the allegations</h3> <p>At a meeting of the Public Security and National Security Committee on Thursday, Alexander claimed that Pugliese was recruited by Russia because of his role as a journalist. He provided documents to the committee regarding the claims.</p> <p>Alexander was Minister of Immigration in Stephen Harper’s Conservative government and a former Canadian ambassador to Afghanistan.</p> <p>He also mentioned several topics that Pugliese has recently written about, including alleged Nazi war criminals in Canada and the Nazi ties of Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s grandfather.</p> <p>“These are themes that Moscow would be happy to promote,” he told MPs.</p> <h3>Postmedia and the Canadian Association of Journalists defend Pugliese</h3> <p>Postmedia, which owns the Ottawa Citizen, rejected Alexander’s claims in a statement Friday and said it strongly supports Pugliese.</p> <p>“Yesterday, a witness before a parliamentary committee made ridiculous and baseless accusations against David and suggested that his work had been compromised by a foreign entity,” the company said.</p> <p>“At no time have we doubted David’s work or integrity, nor have we ever been approached by any intelligence entity regarding David or his work.”</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p> </p> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">My statement on Chris Alexander’s false claims. <a rel="nofollow" href="https://t.co/9PD1DTwBZk">pic.twitter.com/9PD1DTwBZk</a></p> <p>– David Pugliese (@davidpugliese) <a rel="nofollow" href="https://twitter.com/davidpugliese/status/1849695192548508104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 25, 2024</a></p></blockquote> <h3>Alexandre’s response and details of the evidence provided</h3> <p>Reached by phone Friday, Alexander said he stood by the comments he made to the committee and the documents presented to them.</p> <p>The documents, obtained by The Canadian Press, are described on the cover as coming from the archives of the State Security Committee in kyiv, Ukraine, and are dated from 1984 to 1990. Translated versions of the documents name Pugliese but make widely referring to him. as “Stuart”, claiming that the KGB saw him as a potential asset and was looking for one of their agents, “Ivan”, to establish a relationship with him.</p> <p>Alexander told the committee that the documents are “evidence of a serious effort to undermine Canada’s national security and collective self-defense,” adding that they have been authenticated by several experts and that he believes that they were shared with the Department of National Defense and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. . He said he had known about these documents “for several months”.</p> <h3>Pugliese questions authenticity and accuracy of documents</h3> <p>In an interview, Pugliese said the documents given to the committee are the same ones involved in an ongoing civil lawsuit over alleged faulty equipment sent to Ukraine.</p> <p>He said he had no way of knowing if the documents were real, but that “the claims that I’m some sort of Russian agent…it’s fabricated, it’s false.”</p> <p>He said some specific details in the documents were incorrect. For example, a document dated 1984 describes Pugliese as a journalist in Ottawa, but Pugliese said he was not living in Ottawa that year.</p> <h3>Request for opportunity to address the committee</h3> <p>Pugliese said he had not received any notification from the committee that these documents were going to be brought up at Thursday’s meeting or that Alexander would speak about them. He said he had asked the commission to allow him to appear to defend himself, but had not received a response as of Friday afternoon.</p> <h3>Canadian Association of Journalists condemns accusations</h3> <p>The Canadian Association of Journalists denounced these accusations in a press release, saying that these assertions are dangerous and aimed at undermining the credibility of journalists.</p> <p>“It is a sad irony that these comments were made at a meeting examining disinformation campaigns,” the organization said.</p> <h3>Ongoing dispute over evidence and defamation issues</h3> <p>Pugliese said in his statement that Alexander’s claims would be considered defamation if they had not been made before a parliamentary committee. Testimony before committees is protected by parliamentary privilege.</p> <p>“I understand that the articles I have written… are upsetting to those inside and outside of government,” he said.</p> <p>“However, these articles are accurate. I am proud of my 40 years of journalism. This is what journalism is supposed to be: publishing things that the powerful don’t want to be seen in public.”</p> <h3>Committee members respond to allegations</h3> <p>Pugliese also said he was disappointed that NDP MP Peter Julian and Conservative MP James Bezan had not responded to Alexander’s claims.</p> <p>During the meeting, Bezan questioned Alexander about his allegations regarding Pugliese, calling the documents “troubling.”</p> <p>Julian called Alexander’s testimony “staggering” and “explosive.” He asked if other journalists in Canada could be similarly compromised, and Alexander said yes.</p> <p>Julian did not respond to a request for comment.</p> <p>Bezan said in an emailed statement that his knowledge of the allegations was limited to Alexander’s testimony and the documents he provided. He said he interviewed the witness but made no allegations himself.</p> <p>This report by The Canadian Press was first published October 25, 2024.</p> <p> <!-- Audio --></p> <p> <!-- Video --></p> <p> <!-- Gallery --></p></div> <p><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> </div> <span class="single-post-tag"> </span> </div> <div class="single-post-box-outer"> <div class="single-box-author"> <div class="grid-x grid-padding-x"> <div class="cell large-3 medium-3 small-12 align-self-middle medium-text-left text-center"> <div class="author-thumb-wrap"> <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d91b314af2325573c055f8498702cbb4?s=140&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d91b314af2325573c055f8498702cbb4?s=280&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-140 photo' height='140' width='140' decoding='async'/> </div> </div> <div class="cell large-9 medium-9 small-12 align-self-middle medium-text-left text-center "> <div 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