Thread: U.S. Citizen Arrested In Moscow On Suspicion Of Spying

A U.S. citizen has been arrested in Moscow on suspicion of espionage, Russia's Federal Security Service announced Monday.


The domestic security agency named the detained individual as Paul Whelan. It said in a short statement that he was caught during a spying operation, without adding further details.


The security service said a criminal investigation is underway. If convicted of espionage, Whelan faces up to 20 years in prison.


"We are aware of the detention of a U.S. citizen by Russian authorities," a U.S. State Department spokesperson said in a statement emailed to NPR. Staff were notified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to the statement.


The spokesperson added that the United States has requested consular access to the detained citizen. "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 spokesperson provided no additional information, citing privacy concerns.


His arrest comes days after Russian citizen Maria Butina pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as a secret foreign agent in the United States. Butina will be sentenced in 2019. She is likely to face up to six months in prison and then be deported to Russia.


Relations between Moscow and Washington have hit new lows since the United States accused Russia of interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.


The Trump administration imposed sanctions on Russian individuals and entities. The Justice Department has indicted Russian intelligence officers as part of its probe into the election attack.


After Russians poisoned former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England, President Trump ordered the expulsion of 60 Russian officials from the United States, as well as the closure of Seattle's Russian consulate.


The Kremlin retaliated by expelling 60 American diplomats from Russia. It also closed the U.S. consulate in St. Petersburg, reinforcing a message that Russia's foreign ministry once posted on Twitter: "Diplomacy is based on reciprocity."


The Skripals underwent extensive medical treatment for exposure to a rare and deadly nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union in the 1980s. They were released from the hospital earlier this year.


In 2010, Skripal was part of a large spy swap took place in Vienna — an event that NPR described at the time as something that "could have been torn from the pages of an espionage thriller."


On an airport tarmac, 10 people accused of being foreign agents for Russia were exchanged for Skripal and three others convicted of spying for the West. Skripal had been accused of disclosing the names of Russian agents. After his release, he settled in England.


In the past, the United States has accused Russia of waging a campaign to harass American officers serving overseas. The Washington Post reported that Russians have slashed diplomats' tires, entered their homes at night and even followed their children as they traveled to school. U.S. officials also said that a diplomat was attacked by a Russian guard just outside of the U.S. Embassy complex in Moscow

https://www.npr.org/2018/12/31/68114...cion-of-spying

"Highly likely", comes to mind.

Or a dumb cnut who has watched too many Hollywood movies

Originally Posted by baldrick

Or a dumb cnut who has watched too many Hollywood movies

Originally Posted by baldrick

Or a dumb cnut who has watched too many Hollywood movies

Those are a dime a dozen...

https://teakdoor.com/the-multimedia-f...endations.html (Movie/tv download recommendations)

The nerve of those Russians.

Originally Posted by misskit

In the past, the United States has accused Russia of waging a campaign to harass American officers serving overseas.

Those despicable Russians harassing American spies operating in Russia.

Originally Posted by misskit

Relations between Moscow and Washington have hit new lows since the United States accused Russia of interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

................................................

His arrest comes days after Russian citizen Maria Butina pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as a secret foreign agent in the United States.

Of course it does.

Four embassies will take care:

Paul Whelan: Ex-US Marine held on suspicion of spying is UK citizen
4 January 2019

Russia must not use UK citizens as "pawns in diplomatic chess", Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said, after the arrest of a former US Marine with British and American nationality.

Mr Hunt said he was "extremely worried" about Paul Whelan, who has been detained on suspicion of spying.
He added that "every support" is being given to the 48-year-old.

Mr Whelan's family said he was attending a wedding, while Russia said he was "caught spying" in Moscow.
It has been reported that Mr Whelan also holds an Irish passport.

Who is Paul Whelan?
Mr Whelan was born in Canada to British parents and moved to the US as a child. He now lives in Michigan and is director of global security for automotive components supplier BorgWarner.

He has been visiting Russia for business and pleasure for more than a decade, his brother said.

His twin David said he had been told his brother was fine and looking healthy, after US ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman visited him this week.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-46756996

American detained by Russia was convicted of trying to steal thousands of dollars while deployed to Iraq as a Marine

The Marine Corps found Paul Whelan, the American citizen detained by Russia on espionage charges, guilty of attempting to steal more than $10,000 worth of currency from the U.S. government while deployed to Iraq in 2006 and bouncing nearly $6,000 worth of checks around the same time, according to records obtained by The Washington Post.

The details of the charges against Whelan from a special court-martial two years later, which resulted in his discharge for bad conduct, add to an increasingly complex picture of the 48-year-old former Marine, whom Russian officials have accused of spying. His case grew more perplexing Friday after Ireland became the fourth nation to acknowledge him as a citizen and seek consular access.

Since his arrest last week in Moscow, Whelan has rocketed onto the public radar, drawing international attention to his complex journey from the Marine Corps Reserve to a detention cell in the Russian capital’s notorious Lefortovo Prison. People who served alongside Whelan said he was learning Russian and traveled to Moscow and St. Petersburg on vacation during the same deployment in which the Marine Corps accused him of attempted larceny.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...=.19bc57678aff

Bridge of Spies II?