MOSCOW, April 25. /TASS/. The invitation of the sister of US citizen Paul Whelan, who was convicted in Russia on espionage charges, to attend a meeting of the UN Security Council chaired by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is nothing but a PR stunt by the US Department of State, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday.

"They [the United States] said that they had invited Paul Whelan’s family to the session. Let me remind you that this is a man who was convicted in our country on espionage charges, who was caught red-handed. The footage circled the globe," she said in an interview with Russia’s TV Channel One.

"For reasons that are unclear, the American delegation has brought this man’s family to the UN Security Council. No one knows what for. I can tell you that I spoke with various delegations on the sidelines and they all share the opinion that this was just another PR stunt, another PR campaign by the US Department of State," she noted.

On December 28, 2018, Paul Whelan, who holds US, UK, Canadian and Irish citizenship, was detained by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) in a room at the Metropol Hotel in Moscow while on an alleged spy mission.

The FSB opened a criminal case against him on charges of espionage under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code. On June 15, 2020, the Moscow City Court found Whelan guilty of spying against Russia and sentenced him to 16 years in a maximum security prison.