Former KGB agent Mikhail Lennikov in a 2009 photo at Vancouver's First Lutheran Church, shortly after he sought sanctuary. We see a man wearing a grey and black polo shirt standing with his hands in the front pockets of his blue jeans. His face under short grey hair wears a look of chagrin. Behind and above him, we see a modern church constructed mainly of dark wood. The apex of the roof and ceiling rises above him.

Former KGB agent Mikhail Lennikov in a 2009 photo at Vancouver's
Photo Credit: CP Photo / Darryl Dyck

Former KGB agent ends legal fight and departs Canada.

A former KGB agent who spent six years living in a Vancouver church to avoid deportation has voluntarily left Canada.

Mikhail Lennikov’s lawyer said on the weekend that Lennikov ended negotiations with the Canada Border Services Agency and is no longer in the country.

Canadian authorities declared Lennikov a threat to national security because of his work in the 1980s as a translator for the Soviet security and spy agency.

In 1999, he confessed to his role in the KGB but said he did his work under pressure from his superiors.

He was ordered deported in 2009 and took refuge in Vancouver’s First Lutheran Church

His wife wife and son have since become Canadian citizens.

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