MOSCOW—An American detained in Russia and charged with espionage also holds British citizenship, a revelation that adds a further complication to Moscow’s tense relationship with the West.
Paul Whelan, a 48-year-old former Marine from Novi, Mich., was detained last week and later charged with spying, Russian state media reported Thursday. His family has said he was traveling in the country for a wedding and denied he was involved in espionage.
Mr. Whelan’s lawyer said his client can be held for up to two months and has asked a local court for him to be released on bail, Russian official news agency TASS reported. If convicted of spying, Mr. Whelan, could face up to 20 years in jail, according to Russian law.
The U.K. government pressed Moscow to provide more information about Mr. Whelan’s arrest, adding to pressure from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in recent days. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt told the U.K.’s Sky News on Friday that Britain doesn’t agree with “individuals being used in diplomatic chess games,” adding that the U.S. was taking the lead on the case.
The true motive and timing of Mr. Whelan’s arrest and what Russia may seek to gain from his detention—if he indeed isn’t a spy—remain unclear.
Either way, the case threatens to fuel already escalating tensions between Russia and the West, analysts said.
“It’s the kind of case that gives diplomats nightmares because it puts a human face on the problem,” said Mark Galeotti, a senior researcher at the Institute of International Relations Prague. “Paul Whelan could become a poster child for officials in the U.S. and the West pushing for harder line on Russia.”
Relations between U.S. and Russia have soured greatly in recent years, with Moscow being slapped with stiff sanctions for a series of alleged transgressions, including accusations that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The Kremlin has denied any wrongdoing.
“Obviously the Kremlin gave permission for that arrest understanding that it would cause scandal,” said Abbas Gallyamov, a former speechwriter for Russian President Vladimir Putin and a political consultant based in Moscow. “It means that in the Kremlin’s opinion, relations with the U.S. in general, and with [President] Trump in particular, are bad enough not to treasure them.”
Newsletter Sign-up
Tensions between Russia and the U.K. have been high since the poisoning of a former Russian military intelligence agent and his daughter in the U.K. last March. The British government blamed Russia for the attempted assassination. Moscow has rejected the charges.
Mr. Whelan’s detention follows the U.S. arrest of a Russian citizen, Maria Butina, who last month pleaded guilty to conspiracy to influence American politics and could face as much as six months in prison. Russian officials claim the charges against Ms. Butina are false and they view her as a political prisoner.
“This came very soon after the Butina case so it seems quite possible they are gearing up for a swap,” said Emily Ferris, Russia research fellow at the London-based Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies. “Russia often does such tit-for-tat moves, a ‘you got one of ours, we got one of yours’ type of thing.”
At his annual end-of-year press conference last month, Mr. Putin told reporters, “the law of retaliation states, an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth,’” when asked how his government would respond to politically motivated arrests. But Russia “will not arrest innocent people simply to exchange them for someone else later on,” he said.
The Kremlin and Russia’s Foreign Ministry didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Russian national holidays are under way through Jan. 8.
Attempts to reach Mr. Whelan’s lawyer, named as Vladimir Zherebenkov by official state media, were unsuccessful.
Some analysts pointed to unusual elements surrounding Mr. Whelan’s detention.
“Usually in such high-profile spy cases, within 24 hours, the big TV channels would be showing balaclava-masked FSB officers making the arrest,” Mr. Galeotti said. “Here, apart from a few routine statements, there has been surprisingly little media attention. This suggests there’s a debate in the Kremlin about what to do about it.”
One of the few reports providing specifics about the case came Thursday on a Russian news website called Rosbalt. It quoted an unnamed intelligence source saying that Mr. Whelan was detained in his hotel room after receiving a flash drive containing a list of employees of a classified security agency. The news agency reported that Mr. Whelan started making contact with potential Russian targets for gathering information on internet forums and chat rooms some 10 years ago.
The Wall Street Journal hasn’t been able to independently verify those claims.
Rosbalt is thought to be close to Russian security services that have previously used it as a conduit for information as well as disinformation.
—Ann M. Simmons in Moscow and Jason Douglas in London contributed to this article.
Write to Georgi Kantchev at georgi.kantchev@wsj.com
Bagikan Berita Ini
