Dec. 19 (UPI) -- The Canadian Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the son of two Russian spies, who was long denied Canadian citizenship, is a fully legal native.
Alexander Vavilov, 25, who was born in Toronto in 1994 and had no idea of his parents' real identity, did not meet the exception of Canada's Citizenship Act, the court ruled. The law states that children born in Canada are not citizens if a parent is "a diplomatic or consular officer" or some other representative or employee of a foreign government.
Vavilov's parents, Andrey Bezrukov and Elena Vavilova, had worked as deep undercover agents for Russia with the assumed identities of Donald Howard Heathfield and Tracey Lee Ann Foley. The Supreme Court ruled Thursday Bezrukov and Vavilova lived as regular citizens, and not as official diplomats -- thereby granting their son legal citizenship.
The court found that since the parents did not have the immunity and benefits of diplomats, they do not fall under the exception in the Citizenship Act.
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"The majority said it didn't matter that Mr. Vavilov's parents were working for a foreign state," the Supreme Court wrote. "What mattered was whether they had privileges and immunities. They didn't. That meant the exception didn't apply to [Alexander] Vavilov."
Vavilov's brother, Timofey Vavilov, 29, is also fighting for Canadian citizenship. While he's not mentioned in his brother's case, Thursday's ruling is likely to apply to him as well.
The brothers' family life was interrupted when their parents were arrested and pleaded guilty in connection with a 2010 FBI sweep. The parents had moved to Massachusetts in 1995 while still in undercover roles, and Bezrukov finished graduate studies at Harvard University.
Bezrukov and Vavilova were two of 10 suspects who pleaded guilty to failing to register as agents of a foreign government and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
