Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday said the US is trying to get access to a former Marine who is being held in Russia on espionage charges and will demand his release if the “detention is not appropriate.”
Paul Whelan, the director of global security for a Michigan-based auto parts supplier, was arrested last Friday by Russian security agents who accused him of being on a “spy mission.”
Whelan faces 20 years in prison if found guilty.
“We are hopeful within the next hours we will get consular access to see him, and get a chance to learn more,” Pompeo told reporters in Brazil where he attended the inauguration of Brazil’s new president Jair Bolsonaro.
“We’ve made clear to the Russians our expectation that we will learn more about the charges, come to understand what it is he’s been accused of,” he continued. “And if the detention is not appropriate, we will demand his immediate return.”
Whelan, 48, disappeared while attending a wedding in Moscow, his brother David Whelan said in a Twitter post on Tuesday.
“We are deeply concerned for his safety and well-being. His innocence is undoubted and we trust that his rights will be respected,” the Whelan family wrote in a statement posted on Twitter.
David Whelan told CNN that his brother had traveled to Russia many times and flew to Moscow on Dec. 22 to attend the wedding of a former Marine to a Russian woman.
When Paul Whelan, who lives in Novi, Mich., and works for BorgWarner, failed to show up at the ceremony, the married couple filed a missing-persons report with Russian authorities, David Whelan said.
The family learned of his arrest on Monday through media reports.
“Knowing that he’s not dead, it weirdly really helps,” David Whelan said. “When we couldn’t get a hold of him initially, we were worried, and we are still worried now, but at least we know he is alive.”
Whelan’s arrest happened just two weeks after accused Russian spy Maria Butina pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington to trying to infiltrate the Republican Party and influence US relations with Russia before the 2016 election.
Russia considers Butina, 30, a “political prisoner.”
This story was originally published by NY Post
via USAHint.com
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