This story began over two years ago, when researchers at Carleton and York universities decided to do a study on the civil- military relations of various eastern ex-communist countries.

Dr. Mark Yaniszewski, one of UPEI’s political studies profes- sors, was on the Carleton team of researchers for the _ project. According to Yaniszewski, the researchers were studying the civil- military relations of these former Eastern Bloc countries to see if any of them were making the kind of progress that would make them good North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members, as NATO is looking to expand its membership.

Yaniszewski, who did his PhD thesis on civil-military rela- tions, said that the purpose of the study was only to find out, “what was going on in Eastern European countries after the fall of commu- nism, and were they making the kinds of reforms that would make them good allies for Canada.

“By being NATO allies, it wouldn’t just help [Canada] , it would help them as well to consol- idate their changes and the progress they had made...they could benefit from the defensive support that we could give them—much more sup- port than non-allies.” The profes- sor explained that Canada and NATO were looking to add strong democratic nations to the alliance, to increase their defensive power. “The world is a dangerous place, and there’s strength in numbers.”

Before there can be strength in numbers, however, NATO and Canada are obliged to do an intense screening of the potential allies. Yaniszewski said that although the conditions seem simplistic-—as

long as the countries had success- fully administered a democratic regime after the collapse of com- munism, they’d be eligible—the definition of the word “democratic” is very broad. What the researchers were investigating was how demo- cratic these nations were. Some leaders use the label of “democrat- ic” to be accepted and trusted by the West, when a closer look at their systems reveals that they are in fact much more dictatorial than the image they want to portray.

The study was going well— until it was time to investigate Russia.

The Canadian researchers were doing all they could to study Russia’s progress, but it was not enough. They needed someone on the inside who could conduct inter- views; so they hired Russian corre- spondent, Igor Sutyagin.

According to Geoffrey York, a Canadian journalist in Moscow, one year after Sutyagin began his interviews, he was arrest-

_ ed by Russian police, and charged

with treason and espionage. What is being kept secret from the public, the media, and even the legal sys- tem, is how Russian officials came to the conclusion that Sutyagin—a well-respected father of two— could possibly be accused of being a Spy.

Dr. Yaniszewski claimed that the Canadian researchers had only good intentions in both the interests of Canada and Russia.

“What we were doing was taking material that was perfectly accessible to anybody, both by our interpretations of the rules and what their interpretations of the rules would have been, and consol- idated those government-published materials.” He explained that the

By Natalie Pendergast | | |

Dr. Yaniszewski.

interviews that had been conducted by Sutyagin had been previously outlined in letters written to the Russian government, all of which had been approved.

Sutyagin’s lawyer explained that it is not the reading of the material that is frowned upon by the Russian government, it is only when one attempts to analyse the information gathered from the open sources that officials begin arrests. ““You can read all you want, but don’t you dare compare and analyse this information, because that can produce a state secret,’” he told the National Post.

UPEI’s Dr. Yaniszewski, who authored many of the findings of the researchers, fears that the only thing that kept Russian offi- cials from arresting the entire team was the overseas inconvenience.

“It’s a little bit scary in the

sense that those of us from Carleton and York were protected from the police merely by our passports. We, as Canadians, have the protection of our own _— government. Unfortunately, our Russian corre- spondent is being persecuted by his own government.”

Dr. Yaniszewski denied taking part in anything illegal, and said that he is curious as to what Russia is hiding. “We weren’t try- ing to find fault with Russia, and my conscious is perfectly clear.”

But Russian military expert, Amy Knight, is not so sure that the Canadians are innocent. “Was Canada planning to use [the infor- mation] for some sort of non-mili- tary purpose, or was it simply act- ing as a middleman for the Americans and the British?” she asked.

The Cadre.