The Robar case gets weirder

Or, more from wilderness of mirrors

The Globe and Mail has an explosive story this morning linking the Robar espionage case to the circulation of an alleged KGB dossier, allegedly indicating that the veteran Ottawa Citizen journalist and defence columnist, David Piugliese, was a Russian asset.

I emphasise alleged because of an important investigative account written by Taylor Noakes and published in The Walrus magazine, in October 2025. You can read the Noakes essay here:

https://thewalrus.ca/a-veteran-reporter-was-branded-as-a-russian-spy-the-proof-didnt-hold-up/

Noakes references testimony given by former Conservative immigration minister Chris Alexander, to a parliamentary committee in October 2024, in which he offered the committee photocopies of some records allegedly from the Ukrainian branch of the KGB (pre-independence) which indicated that the KGB had talent spotted David Pugliese and were interested in developing him as an asset. Anyone with an ounce of knowledge about how the KGB operated abroad would know that reporting on such talent spotting was part of the quota of what KGB operatives were meant to deliver to the Lubyanka and that such efforts, in and of themselves, prove nothing. This insight, however, seems to have eluded Chris Alexander. But Noakes goes further by citing an independent investigation that found that the documents Alexander paraded before the committee were “crafted with deliberate intent to deceive.” In other words, they were a KGB disinformation operation based on forgeries designed to undermine Pugliese’s credibility as a journalist. As Noakes writes, “instead of unmasking a spy, Alexander may have ended up offering Parliament a case study in how falsehoods gain traction.” Alexander’s testimony, even though he was no longer a member of Parliament, were covered by Parliamentary privilege, so he has a get-out-of-jail free card over any defamation suit. It is possible, Noakes notes, that Alexander nursed a grievance against Pugliese for his critical reporting on the Afghanistan mission or other episodes, such as Alexander’s championing while in office of the controversial “Victims of Communism” monument.

But what is the tie-in between the alleged KGB dossier on Pugliese that Alexander peddled and the Robar case?

According to the Globe’s reporters (the byline includes Bob Fife, Steve Chase and Mark MacKinnon), the link goes directly to the origins of the Robar counter-intelligence investigation. According to the Globe:

“three separate sources with direct knowledge of the initial events have told the Globe that in 2023 MWO Robar was assigned to interview and assess the concerns of a group of Canadian military officers who said they were targeted for threats after making internal allegations that Postmedia reporter David Pugliese was serving the interests of the Russian state via his coverage of the war in Ukraine.” ^[1]

The sources were not prepared to go on the record and we don’t know whether any were among the group of Canadian military officers who were allegedly threatened. There is no documentary record to back up their anonymous claims. Nor did the Globe report cited the Noakes account in The Walrus, published over a year ago. The Globe writers say, instead, that “the purported KGB documents are the focus of a fierce but whispered debate in Ottawa over the authenticity and provenance of the files.” Adds spice but who is debating exactly? You can like a leak a little too much.

The Globe story indicates that Chris Alexander was contacted by MWO Robar as part of his investigation on October 8, 2024, which was apparently shortly after Alexander received (from where?) the alleged KGB dossier on Pugliese.

This angle on the Robar case, if true, paints an ugly picture of Canadian military officers and the counter-intelligence unit of the CAF having swallowed a potential KGB disinformation operation with who-knows-what consequences. It seems MWO Robar may have been tasked with investigating the allegations about Pugliese. This may have been the beginning of the fateful path he followed.

But we also have to pause and take a breath. We are truly in the wilderness of mirrors. What the real story about the links between a potential KGB disinformation operation and the military’s investigative response may have been remains to be seen. If this is an “origin” story, it remains a murky one. All that can be said for certain is that it makes the necessity of a fair and open trial for MWO Robar all the more important, and it may require more than that in terms of a full and independent investigation, as David Pugliese has himself called for.

(Two corrections to my previous column on the Robar case, for which I am indebted to a military justice expert.)

One is that a court martial has not yet been convened and there is no determination that the military judge who presided over the custody hearing will have carriage of the case. The other is that a military judge does not have any independent capacity to determine that court exhibits are to remain classified. I am learning about the military justice system as I go.

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^[1] The Globe and Mail, “CAF espionage case linked to allegation that Postmedia journalist has ties to Russia,” December 19, 2025, https://www.iask.ca/news/41c56671b29d99253538094bdee3a2a1/caf-espionage-case-linked-to-allegation-that-postmedia-journalist-has-ties-to-russia