OTTAWA \u2014 A veteran Canadian journalist facing unproven and disputed allegations that he is working as a pro-Russian operative was the subject of several interviews during an investigation involving the RCMP, the Star has learned.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The exact purpose of the inquiries is unclear, but sources familiar with the probe said members of the RCMP-led\u00a0INSET<\/a>\u00a0national security body had conversations with numerous individuals during the past two years that focused on the Ottawa Citizen\u2019s David Pugliese and claims he is linked to Moscow. At one meeting in 2025, INSET officials \u201cmade it clear\u201d they were approaching the matter \u201cas a national security issue,\u201d one of the sources said.\u00a0<\/p>\n In an emailed statement, Pugliese confirmed he has also \u201ccommunicated several times with the RCMP,\u201d and told police he is open to further discussion while he categorically rejects \u201cfalse allegations\u201d that he is a \u201cRussian asset.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The revelation adds to a muddy and contested picture, with claims of Cold War espionage first levelled by a former Conservative cabinet minister, outstanding questions about a mysterious purported Soviet spy dossier that names Pugliese as a recruitment target, and a possible connection to a Canadian military counter-intelligence officer who was later accused of leaking secrets to a foreign agent.\u00a0<\/p>\n RCMP spokesperson Marie-Eve Breton did not confirm or deny the police force is investigating Pugliese, or if inquiries related to him were part of a broader probe.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cGenerally, only in the event that an investigation results in the laying of criminal charges, would the RCMP confirm its investigation, the nature of any charges laid, and the identity of the individual(s) involved,\u201d Breton said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Star agreed not to identify sources for this story so they could speak freely about a sensitive matter.\u00a0<\/p>\n The allegations about Pugliese became public in October 2024, when former cabinet minister Chris Alexander appeared before a parliamentary committee studying Russian misinformation. While there, he accused Pugliese of long-standing \u201ccovert ties\u201d to Moscow. He also revealed the existence of a mysterious dossier\u00a0that purports to show Soviet intelligence agents targeted Pugliese for recruitment when he was a young reporter during the latter years of the Cold War.\u00a0<\/p>\n But despite Alexander\u2019s insistence that the documents are authentic, questions remain about their veracity, as well as their origins, who began circulating them, and why.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also not clear how, or whether, the Pugliese allegations factor into the case of Master Warrant Officer Matthew Robar. The Canadian military counter-intelligence officer was investigated by INSET\u00a0\u2014 the same RCMP-led body the Star\u2019s sources said sought information related to Pugliese\u00a0\u2014 starting in 2024, according to a news release<\/a>, before he was charged in December with allegedly leaking secrets to a foreign agent.\u00a0<\/p>\n Three sources interviewed on condition they weren\u2019t named told the Star that Robar spoke with several individuals about Pugliese, his alleged ties to Russia and reporting on Canadian soldiers involved in pro-Ukrainian activity who were subjects of his reporting. That includes a conversation with Alexander \u2014 the former cabinet minister \u2014 barely two weeks before he revealed the existence of the purported Pugliese dossier\u00a0at the parliamentary committee.\u00a0<\/p>\n Robar\u2019s lawyers, Cmdr. Brent Walden and Maj. Francesca Ferguson, told the Star by email that their client \u201cmaintains his innocence and intends to defend himself against all charges.\u201d The lawyers declined to respond to a series of questions, including about any conversations Robar had with Alexander and others about Pugliese, and whether the allegations against the journalist are connected to the charges Robar faces.<\/p>\n Wesley Wark, a national security expert and senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, said any investigation that touches on a Canadian journalist would be \u201cvery sensitive\u201d because of political concerns and legal precedents that protect reporters in areas like the possession of classified information.<\/p>\n As Wark explained, a probe by INSET\u00a0\u2014 the body led by the RCMP that includes the national intelligence service, border agency, and others\u00a0\u2014 could fall under two categories: suspected espionage or sabotage, or \u201cforeign influenced activity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Such an investigation could only target a journalist like Pugliese if there were \u201creasonable grounds\u201d to believe he was engaged in such activity, Wark said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pugliese has also faced allegations reported<\/a>\u00a0in the English-language Kyiv Post \u2014 which he rejects \u2014 that his reporting on issues such as alleged Ukrainian Nazi sympathizers and how former Liberal cabinet minister Chrystia Freeland\u2019s grandfather worked at a Nazi newspaper during the Second World War coincided with Russian propaganda efforts.<\/p>\n Responding to the Star this week, Pugliese said he is aware complaints have been made to police agencies and national security officials by at least two individuals \u2014 including the person behind a $37-million lawsuit against Pugliese and his employer, Postmedia \u2014 whom he said are disgruntled over his reporting on the alleged mismanagement of pro-Ukrainian organizations called Mriya Aid and Mriya Report since 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not the first time I have been under police investigation related to my reporting,\u201d Pugliese, who has written on defence and the military for decades, said in a statement to the Star. He referred to a National Post story from 2013 that said he had been investigated by military police for allegedly publishing classified information, among other instances.<\/p>\n \u201cThere has been an ongoing pattern of harassment against me by the Canadian Forces and (Department of National Defence) leadership that appears directly linked to my decades of journalism and trying to hold their organization to account,\u201d Pugliese said.<\/p>\n \u201cI stand by my reporting.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n According to multiple sources, as well as documents released through the public access-to-information system and obtained by the Star, the RCMP received complaints related to Pugliese\u2019s reporting \u2014 as well as concerns that other individuals were engaged in subsequent online harassment and intimidation \u2014 as early as 2023.<\/p>\n A Canadian reservist named Capt. Joseph Friedberg, who was involved in the Mriya Report organization that Pugliese wrote about, submitted written concerns to the Toronto Police Service, York Regional Police Service and the RCMP, documents obtained by the Star show. This included allegations that someone was sharing images of Friedberg\u2019s children online, as well as other personal details and death threats. Documents submitted to police also show complaints involved suspected home break-ins in 2022.<\/p>\n Department of National Defence emails from September 2023 also refer to a \u201croundtable\u201d about the internal handling of media reports related to Friedberg and another soldier named in Pugliese\u2019s stories, Lieut.-Col. Melanie Lake, the former head of a Canadian military operation to train Ukrainian soldiers. One of the messages mentions that Friedberg faced a \u201csimilar threat as LCol Lake raised at the roundtable\u201d in what was a \u201cvery challenging and stressful situation for his family.\u201d<\/p>\n Spokespeople for the Canadian Armed Forces declined to answer questions about the roundtable and related concerns, citing privacy and security priorities.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lake and Friedberg declined to comment when contacted by the Star.\u00a0<\/p>\n Documents obtained by the Star also show that the RCMP received digital copies of the alleged Pugliese dossier, while multiple sources said INSET officials asked about it.\u00a0<\/p>\n Though it\u2019s still not clear where the dossier came from, two sources told the Star they received the dossier from unknown sources online in 2023 and 2024, before Alexander revealed its existence at the parliamentary committee.\u00a0<\/p>\n During his appearance<\/a>, Alexander described the dossier as \u201cincomplete\u201d and said it came from the KGB archive in Ukraine, where Soviet agents worked during the Cold War. He claimed Canadian national security officials had seen it, and that the documents were \u201cauthenticated\u201d by experts he did not name. He also asserted \u2014 without providing proof \u2014 that Pugliese had \u201clong-running, covert ties to Moscow\u201d and that further documents were held in the Russian capital.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pugliese appeared before the committee the following week to denounce<\/a> Alexander, defend his journalism, and dismiss his alleged link to Soviet and Russian intelligence as \u201cpreposterous\u201d and \u201cfabricated\u201d claims. Postmedia, the company Pugliese works for, has also backed him, stating<\/a>\u00a0that he faces \u201cunverified allegations that are false and intended to discredit his investigative work.\u201d The newspaper chain also said it has never been approached by intelligence or law enforcement concerning Pugliese.<\/p>\n Alexander, meanwhile, declined to comment for this story.\u00a0<\/p>\n Obtained by the Star in Cyrillic, alongside an English translation, the dossier includes eight digital copies of what appear to be scanned pages that are handwritten and produced on a typewriter.<\/p>\n Dated between 1982 and 1990, the documents describe how Soviet agents targeted Pugliese \u2014 identified by name and under the code name \u201cStuart\u201d \u2014 as a potential intelligence asset.<\/p>\n The dossier does not clearly state that Pugliese ever worked with or on behalf of Soviet or Russian intelligence.<\/p>\n