MOSCOW, August 18 (RAPSI) – An ex-KGB agent who was living in a church in Vancouver for six years to avoid deportation to Russia has surrendered to Canadian authorities and has returned to his homeland, Deutsche Welle has reported.

According to Deutsche Welle, a Russian national, Mikhail Lennikov, left the First Lutheran Church in Vancouver where he was staying for six years after Canadian authorities refused to give him an official asylum in the country. Lennikov has left the church on his own terms, he has been escorted by the border officers to Toronto where he has boarded a plane to Moscow.

Lennikov feared the possible treason charges that could've been brought against him by Russian authorities in response to his disclosure of several ex-KGB agents' identities, Deutsche Welle has reported. Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has previously refused to give Lennikov an asylum in the country because of his KGB past.