Arrested in Montreal less than two weeks ago, Paul Hampel has been identified as a threat to the country's national security amid claims he is an elite operative for Russia's foreign intelligence service, Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki (SVR).

Hampel established a firm in Dublin in 1997, but the company, Emerging Markets Research and Consulting, has never traded. The company is now listed as having been dissolved.

Hampel, who claims to be a Canadian citizen, is being accused of stealing his identity to masquerade as a legitimate businessman and writer. He has previously written a book called My Beautiful Balkans, a compilation of philosophical thoughts incorporating photographs of the region.

Last week, a trial hearing in Montreal was postponed after Hampel's defence team claimed their client was unaware of the charges against him and that they had not been granted sufficient access to him. The case is expected to be heard again this week. Canadian authorities did not reveal Hampel's activities, but court documents said that "Hampel's establishment of a legend based on Canadian documentation provided him with the ability to covertly further interests of the SVR for over a decade both within Canada and abroad".

Ireland has been used for decades as a training based for first Soviet and then Russian intelligence agents.

Among their activities in the 1980s was keeping tabs on IRA operations.