John Ivison: Russia’s deadly crosshairs could be aiming at the heads of Canada’s defence contractors

A Sentinel R&D fixed-wing aerial drone in flight. Photo by Sentinel R&D

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When Sentinel R&D, a Hamilton, Ont.-based defence firm, signed a deal with a Ukrainian drone firm, Airlogix, in May, the response from the Kremlin was unusual.

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The deal to build ReKam fixed-wing drones in this country drew the ire of Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who called Canada a “war monger” and said Russia reserves the right to “an appropriate response.”

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She added spice to the threat by vowing to publish the address of Sentinel’s facility in Hamilton.

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Russia’s ambassador in Ottawa, Oleg Stepanov, said the deal is proof that Canada is seeking to profit from the conflict. Moscow is factoring the deal into its military and political planning, he said ominously.

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Sentinel’s CEO Kath Intson maintained that the project would proceed as planned, but quietly took precautions by hiring two private security firms: Atlas Security, which provides national intelligence information and advice, and CyberAGroup, which offers dark web and open-source intelligence collection. The two companies are headed by former senior operatives from Canada’s spy agency CSIS.

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Intson’s decision looks prescient in light of a recent story in the Financial Times, which said five European intelligence agencies have warned defence company bosses that Russia is stepping up preparations to assassinate senior executives whose companies supply weapons to Ukraine. In particular, the article said the heads of smaller companies making drones and drone components would be targeted. Earlier reporting highlighted the plight of Stefan Thumann, the CEO of German drone company, Donaustahl Offence Technology, which supplies drones to Ukraine. He is already in hiding, under 24-hour protection, after an assassination plot was unearthed.

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A federal indictment in the U.S. revealed another murder plot, this time against a Russian dissident in Washington. The authorities accused five people of being part of a “global assassination network” linked to Moscow.

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The two former CSIS operatives hired by Sentinel agreed to talk on the record to National Post about the threats Canada is facing.

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Marc Lacroix, the CEO of Atlas Security, is a former director of covert operations at CSIS. Ryan Zorn, CEO of CyberAGroup, was an intelligence operator at CSIS for 28 years and created the agency’s OSINT Cyber Investigations unit (OSINT stands for open-source intelligence).

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Zorn said the threat environment in Canada is escalating. “What is particularly significant here is that the Russian Foreign Ministry chose to make its warning publicly, calling Canada a ‘warmonger’ and threatening to identify the Canadian company involved, (not to mention) stating that a drone arrangement would factor into Russia’s military and political planning.

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“I wouldn’t claim that this public statement was a direct instruction to Russian intelligence services, because we do not have evidence of that. But it is reasonable to view it as an escalation in Moscow’s posture towards Canada, and a warning that Canadian companies and institutions connected to support for Ukraine may face increased attention and pressure,” he said.