Diplomatically Speaking

The man was a complete stranger. As if out of nowhere, he lined up behind the young woman at the downtown currency exchange office. He seemed friendly enough and was soon peppering her with questions about her upcoming trip: a visit to Moscow in December 2003. Their banter, innocent on the surface, continued for a while, but the moment she pocketed her rubles, the man vanished.

When the woman mentioned the encounter to her boyfriend, the Canadian diplomat Geoff White, he immediately suspected foul play. At least some at the Russian embassy, in Ottawa’s leafy Sandy Hill neighbourhood, were aware of their upcoming journey; both had recently applied for visas. But the fact that White’s girlfriend (and future wife) was approached in this manner, at such a precise time and place, suggested either that she was under direct surveillance or that spooks had found a way to monitor her phone and email. Whatever the method, the couple were now on Russia’s radar. That in itself...