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Retired U.S. Marine held in Russia for spying is innocent - family


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Retired U.S. Marine held in Russia for spying is innocent - family

By Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber and Barbara Goldberg

 

2019-01-01T203517Z_2_LYNXNPEF0017C_RTROPTP_4_RUSSIA-USA-ESPIONAGE.JPG

Paul Whelan, a U.S. citizen detained in Russia for suspected spying, appears in a photo provided by the Whelan family on January 1, 2019. Courtesy Whelan Family/Handout via REUTERS

 

MOSCOW/NEW YORK (Reuters) - A retired U.S. Marine detained by Russia on spying charges was visiting Moscow for a wedding and is innocent, his family said on Tuesday.

 

Paul Whelan had been staying with a wedding party for a fellow former Marine at the Metropol hotel in Moscow, said his brother David Whelan, who learnt of the arrest on Monday.

 

"His innocence is undoubted and we trust that his rights will be respected," Whelan's family said in a statement released on Twitter on Tuesday.

 

Russia's FSB state security service said the American had been detained on Friday, but it gave no details of the nature of his alleged espionage activities. Under Russian law, espionage can carry a prison sentence of between 10 and 20 years.

 

A U.S. State Department representative said Russia had notified it that a U.S. citizen had been detained and it expected Moscow to provide consular access to see him.

 

"Russia’s obligations under the Vienna Convention require them to provide consular access. We have requested this access and expect Russian authorities to provide it," the representative said, without providing details of the identity of the American or the reasons behind his detention.

 

David Whelan declined to comment on his brother’s work status at the time of his arrest and whether his brother lived in Novi, Michigan, as address records indicate.

 

BorgWarner, a Michigan-based automotive parts supplier, said Whelan is the "company’s director, global security. He is responsible for overseeing security at our facilities in Auburn Hills, Michigan and at other company locations around the world."

 

BUTINA CASE

Daniel Hoffman, a former CIA Moscow station chief, said it is "possible, even likely" that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Whelan’s arrest to set up an exchange for Maria Butina, the Russian citizen who pleaded guilty on Dec. 13 to acting as an agent tasked with influencing U.S. conservative groups.

 

Putin's aim was "to make us feel some pain and his family to feel some pain. That's their (Moscow’s) pressure point," Hoffman told Reuters.

 

"Putin knows there will be a lot of public square pressure to get this guy out," he said.

 

Putin told U.S. President Donald Trump in a letter on Sunday that Moscow was ready for dialogue on a "wide-ranging agenda," the Kremlin said following a series of failed attempts to hold a new summit.

 

At the end of November, Trump abruptly cancelled a planned meeting with Putin on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Argentina, citing tensions about Russian forces opening fire on Ukrainian navy boats and then seizing them.

 

Trump's relations with Putin have been under a microscope as a result of U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.

 

Moscow has denied intervening in the election and Trump has branded Mueller's probe as a witch hunt.

 

Russia's relations with the United States plummeted when Moscow annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, and Washington and Western allies have imposed a broad range of sanctions on Russian officials, companies and banks.

 

(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York; Additional reporting by Jonathan Landay in Washington Editing by Bill Tarrant and Paul Simao)

 
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-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-01-02
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Butina will be drained of her testimony and sent back to Russia in exchange for this guy who’s now become a pawn in Putin’s hands.

 

His future is a lot brighter than that facing Butina.

 

 

Trump MPs will continue to back Putin.

 

Edited by Chomper Higgot
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18 minutes ago, Ulic said:

People from certain countries should not travel to conflict countries with dictators as head of state.

North Korea, China, Russia, the Arabic Middle East, and many African countries. You are just asking for trouble. 

Is there any other Middle East?

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I don't trust Putin as far as I can throw him and I can see why having an American hostage is useful for him now, but on the other hand, American spies do exist, so I don't think the public can really know for sure that he isn't a spy. It's a rough biz. I grew up with a neighbor that ended up in a canal in Amsterdam, he turned out to be a spy, occupational hazards. 

Edited by Jingthing
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1 hour ago, MRToMRT said:

Theres nothing in the story except conjecture trying to make the reader be influenced to believe a theory. He has been detained, he is American, he works for a car spare parts firm in "security" - that's the only facts I can see.

He speaks Russian and only helped fellow Americans to find their way in the subway. Very plausible.

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Looks like a spy to me.....ex-marine and all. I'd say 80% spy; 20% innocent. But what do I know? Nothing, except what appears in the MSM. I'm sure Sputnik and RT have a different view on his guilt or innocence, if anyone is bothered to check. And before you say it is state sponsored propaganda, ask yourself who funds the BBC.

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4 minutes ago, Gene1960 said:


Israel ? Persia?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

First time I hear about it. But Israel is a country and Persia does not exist anymore. It's just like saying German Europe, or Mongol Asia....

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3 hours ago, SpaceKadet said:

First time I hear about it. But Israel is a country and Persia does not exist anymore. It's just like saying German Europe, or Mongol Asia....

Your TV forum name suits you....

 

A lot of Israelis would consider themselves Arab. Those in Iran consider themselves Persian. 

 

But do keep digging. It’s entertaining. 

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1 hour ago, samran said:

Your TV forum name suits you....

 

A lot of Israelis would consider themselves Arab. Those in Iran consider themselves Persian. 

 

But do keep digging. It’s entertaining. 

Not the first time I am accused of that.... but <deleted> you all, what do you know about me?

There is no such thing as Israeli Middle East or Persian Middle East. Typical uneducated American. Go back to school and learn some geography. Middle East is a geographical area not an ethnic area of Asia....

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What would one expect the family to say?  America certainly whines, bitches, pisses and moans when anyone spies on them, but they are the worst on the planet for snooping on others. 

Sad how all the Snowden disclosures have been absorbed and forgotten and the stinking Government is free to go about its dirty work as if nothing had ever happened.

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