As far as Laken Pavan’s family knew, he was backing through Europe, absorbing the views.
But the 17 -year -old had a different plan when he left Vancouver in April 2024. He first flew to Türkiye. Then to Moscow, already Donetsk occupied by Russian in Ukraine.
And it was there that he was recruited as a spy.
“This is very absurd,” said Andelaine Nelson, his mother. “He is a good child … I would never have done this if he had not been pushed to the limit.”
Nelson had recently reconnected with his son. They were rebuilding a relationship that had been cut a decade earlier by divorce and family problems. And they were in daily contact while traveling, exchanging messages through WhatsApp and Telegram.
In early May, Laken told him that he was in Denmark, working on a farm with some friends. A couple of weeks later, he asked for some money to buy a plane ticket to Warsaw. The last time they sent messages was May 22, shortly after landing in Poland. A few hours later, I was in jail.
“They told me that Laken had been arrested and accused of espionage against the Polish government,” Nelson said. “It was devastating. As your heart sinks. It’s your son and you can’t do anything. I can’t help it.”
The former reservist of the Canadian Armed Forces Laken Paven is complying with a sentence of 20 months after declaring himself guilty of espionage charges in Poland.
A hurried confession
According to legal documents and details of Polish prosecutors, obtained by CBC News, Pavan was arrested at the beginning of May 23, 2024, after getting drunk in a hotel bar and confessing, first to the staff, then the police, which was a Russian spy.
He told Polish researchers that he had traveled to Donetsk with the intention of voluntary with what he thought was a humanitarian organization, but was attacked by a Federal Security Service Agent in Russia (FSB), and pressed to become a spy.
With a new cell phone and three SIM cards that he had to use to communicate with his handler, he told Pavan to travel to Warsaw to collect information about the Polish army and get in touch with his members, despite speaking only English.
During a stop in Denmark, he was instructed to inform that his passport stole and obtained new travel documents, to hide his visit to Russia. And he would be paid in the cryptocurrency for his services.
Pavan was accused of “participating in the activities of Russian intelligence against the Republic of Poland”, and declared himself guilty. In December 2024, a panel of three judges of the Regional Court of Warsaw condemned the now 18 years of 18 to a total of 20 months in jail, including his time attended in custody prior to the trial. In his trial, the court said he had shown “extraordinary” clemency due to his confession and cooperation. It is scheduled to be released in January 2026.
Laken comes from a military family, and his father Kevin Pavan, a retired body teacher, served in Bosnia and Afghanistan. The teenager was a cadet of the Canadian forces for a long time, and then reservist, and had planned to join the Army full time after his 18th birthday.
“It has always been a dream of yours,” Nelson said. “When I was little, I aligned marble and pretended that they were going to fight.”
Concerns about military ties
The family believes that it could have been attacked by the Russians due to their military ties. And they are worried that other young soldiers can be at risk.
A national defense department spokesman told CBC News that Pavan’s time as a reservist of the Canadian Armed Forces ended in October 2024, five months after his arrest in Poland. Citing national security protocols, the spokesman refused to comment on whether any practice or political has changed due to Pavan’s confession and conviction.
Kevin Pavan rejected an interview application. However, a Toronto lawyer who advises the family says that there are many reasons why the public must worry about this case.
“The family had to try to rebuild things when talking with global affairs, and were interviewed by intelligence agents. And what they have determined is that their son was under surveillance and known, long before he went to Europe and East Asia,” said John Kingman Phillips.
If so, Phillips argues that the authorities should have stopped Laken before leaving the country and treating him under the Canadian law as a young criminal.
“This is exactly the failure of the Canadian system and the Canadian intelligence and police network. They should have closed this in Canada, focused on their rehabilitation and reintegration. But now it is suffering in a prison,” said Phillips.
The RCMP refused to answer CBC News questions about the case of Laken Pavan, as well as Public Safety Canada, the federal department that supervises the CSI.
One of Laken’s nearby friends told CBC News that the teenager had been talking about traveling to Russia for months. And that he was trying to get away from his problems on the island of Vancouver and start a new life abroad.
The friend, whom CBC agreed not to name due to the nature of the charges, says that Laken once confided that he no longer wanted to go, but felt he had no choice since he had already shared his passport and military identification information with the supposed humanitarian group.
“What he told me is that in one way or another, all this information would be given to the Canadian authorities, and he would be in trouble here,” said the friend. “I think how he looked at him was that he made a crap decision, and then he was forced to go.”
The growing range of Russia
Keir Giles, a member of the senior consulting for the Russia and Eurasia program in Chatham House in London, says that Putin’s FSB has been launching a wide network for new agents since the invasion of Ukraine. Everything is part of Moscow’s impulse to harass and unbalance NATO nations.
“Russia will communicate and recruit anyone who can, because now it is much cheaper and easier thanks to online access,” Giles said. “The investment of time and resources to do this is small compared to the potential results.”
The final objective is not necessarily obtaining secret information or participating in sabotage, says Giles, but rather sowing fear, uncertainty and doubt. An objective that can be met even when the spies are trapped, or confess.
“Russia gives very little value to the people who recruit. They are disposable,” he said.
Laken’s family hopes that he will soon return home, and they have been told that quiet negotiations are being carried out to allow him to complete his sentence in Canada.
Global Affairs Canada told CBC News that they are “committed to local authorities” in Poland, but refused to provide more information, citing privacy concerns.
A resolution cannot arrive soon enough for Andelaine Nelson.
“You need to return home. It does not belong to a Polish prison,” he said. “He delivered. He didn’t do what he was asked to do. He knew it was wrong.”
You can contact Jonathon Gatehouse by email to jonathon.gatehouse@cbc.ca, or reached through the Securetrop CBC system digitally encrypted in https://www.cbc.ca/secuedrop/
