The U.S. ambassador to Russia was allowed to meet Wednesday with a Michigan man imprisoned in Moscow on suspicion of espionage, the first contact U.S. officials have had with him since he was arrested last week at a hotel.
Jon Huntsman, the former Utah governor who is now ambassador in Moscow, spoke with Paul Whelan at Lefortovo Detention Facility, a prison that has held many spies and political prisoners in spartan conditions. State Department officials said Huntsman offered Whelan the embassy's support and spoke by phone with Whelan's family afterward.
But many details of Whelan's arrest and condition since then remain unknown. It is not clear whether he has been formally charged with espionage. The State Department declined to say how long Huntsman spent with Whelan, whether their visit was in private or in the presence of prison authorities.
The visit came a few hours after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he expected officials from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to be given access to Whelan within hours. Pompeo said they need to learn more about why Whelan was detained Friday.
Speaking to reporters in Brasilia, where he attended the inauguration of the new president, Pompeo also said the United States will demand Whelan's release if it is determined his arrest was unjust.
"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 and if the detention is not appropriate we will demand his immediate return," he said.
U.S. officials are concerned about the delay between his arrest and the consular visit, believing it violates the time frame dictated by the Vienna Convention. Russian officials announced his arrest Monday, and the ensuing news accounts provided his family's first notice of what had happened to him.
Whelan, a 48-year-old former Marine, was in Moscow last week for the wedding of a fellow Marine on Friday, his family has said, the same day he was detained by Russia's domestic security service.
"We are deeply concerned for his safety and well-being," his family said in a statement. "His innocence is undoubted and we trust that his rights will be respected."
Michigan Rep.-elect Haley Stevens, who will represent Whelan's district in Congress, released a statement Wednesday saying: "Paul served our country as a Marine and law enforcement officer and we must ensure that Russia continues to meet its obligations under the Vienna Convention to provide U.S. officials access to Mr. Whelan. I am working with the State Department and will remain vigilant until Paul returns safely to his family in Michigan."
Whelan is the corporate security director for BorgWarner, an automotive parts supplier based in Auburn Hills, Mich.
Relations between the United States and Russia have deteriorated over a series of events, from its aggression toward Ukraine to Russian interference in elections in the United States and other democracies around the world.
The arrest of Maria Butina, who confessed to being a Russian agent, has raised suspicions that Whelan's detention is payback or an attempt to arrange a prisoner swap. If convicted, Whelan could face a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
The Marine Corps on Wednesday released details of Whelan's service record. He served in the Marine Corps Reserves from 1994 to 2008 and was convicted of larceny in a special court-martial in January 2008. The Marine Corps did not immediately provide details of the court-martial conviction beyond saying it was based on "several charges related to larceny."
David Whelan said in an interview that his brother had been to Russia several times previously, so when a fellow former Marine was planning a wedding in Moscow, he was asked to go along to help out.
David Whelan said that it was while searching the Internet on Monday that he learned of his brother's arrest.
"I was looking for any stories about dead Americans in Moscow, so in a way it was better than finding out that he had died," he said.
David Whelan said he has no idea why his brother was targeted by the Russian security services.
"I don't think there's any chance that he's a spy," David Whelan told CNN.
Information for this article was contributed by Carol Morello and Amie Ferris-Rotman of The Washington Post; and by Lynn Berry, Jim Heintz, Tom Krisher and Robert Burns of The Associated Press.
A Section on 01/03/2019