A veteran Ottawa journalist says he and his family have received threats since he was accused of being a Russian agent during a House of Commons committee meeting last month — a claim he refutes and describes as "preposterous."

"There are now calls that I be executed or tortured and that my family be deported," David Pugliese, a reporter with the Ottawa Citizen, told MPs on the House public security committee on Thursday.

Appearing before the same committee last month, Chris Alexander — a former immigration minister in Stephen Harper's Conservative government and a former Canadian ambassador to Afghanistan — accused Pugliese of being a Russian agent.

"Mr. Alexander's fabricated claims are not only outlandish but dangerous to my family," Pugliese told the committee. He said he has had to increase security around his home as a result.

Alexander claimed Pugliese was recruited by Russia because of his role as a journalist and provided documents to the committee about the claims. He told the committee the documents are "evidence of a serious effort to undermine Canada's national security and collective self-defence."

The documents — copies of which CBC News has obtained — are described on the cover page as being from the Archives of the State Security Committee in Kyiv, Ukraine, and are dated 1984 through 1990. CBC News has not independently verified the authenticity of the documents.

Former Conservative cabinet minister Chris Alexander in 2014. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)

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