AThe Ottawa Journal Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Tuesday, September 25, 1956 - Page 2 — Staples Thinks Reds Played Chess to Spy by Dick Brown — Were those friendly games of chess planned as the foundations of another Russian spy ring in Canada?
James Stanley Staples, whose suspicions were partially responsible for the expulsion of a top Russian diplomat from Canada, thinks they were.
His admissions about Russian bribery led the Department of External Affairs to reveal yesterday that G. E. Popov, second secretary at the Russian Embassy in Ottawa, had been ordered out of this country July 12 by the Canadian Government.
Mr. Staples claimed he had been offered “gifts” to obtain information about the CF-105 jet fighter; that he had accepted $50 from Popov (which he later returned), and that he thought the Russians were using him as the “foundation” or contact which would lead to further secret information.
‘Just a Link’
“I was just a link in a great big chain”, he said last night.
“They (the Russians) have a strange way of working. They are so gentlemanly about things. There are 10 separate divisions or classes of player in the Recreation Association chess club. They had an embassy representative in every class.”
All Russians have dropped out of the club.
“They didn't resign,” Mr. Staples explained. “But about the middle of July. I guess it must have been shortly after Mr. Popov was kicked out, they just stopped coming. I haven't seen any around there since.”
Mr. Staples, who lives with his wife and two children at 1100 Yule Lane, Manor Park, said he thinks he was “over-suspicious”. He feels this may have nipped an organizational movement in the bud.
‘Felt Something Wrong.’
“I don't know why I did it”, he said, “but I felt something was wrong. When I was asked to this party at the Russian Embassy in April, 1955, I told a friend of mine who is a member of the RCMP.”
Mr. Staples said he had been asked “to keep quiet about it”. When he was fired from his position as a civil service employee at Rockcliffe Air Station as a poor security risk, he was told again not to talk of it.
“It is only my personal opinion, of course, but I think the RCMP are carrying out a much bigger investigation than most people know about.”
He said he thought any investigation was hampered by the amount of publicity given the brief to be presented by the anti-communist organization to Federal authorities.
“The man responsible for bringing this information to the limelight is thinking only of himself”, he declared.
Mr. Staples said he had been shocked by the Russians' approach.
‘Polished Approval’
Their methods had been “gentlemanly, mannerly and polished.”
“Communism ([Russian Imperialism]) could undermine anyone,” he said. “It is something to appeal to the average man if he doesn't have anything to stand for.
“I think I knew as much about ([Russian Imperialism]) as most people before I got mixed up in this thing”, he added, “but now I am terrified of it.
“I hope Canadians will take this as a warning. I know the Russians were trying to do something—and on a big scale. It is lucky they were stopped.”
Staples Thinks Reds Played Chess to Spy 25 Sep 1956, Tue The Ottawa Journal (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) Newspapers.com
