MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/. US citizen Paul Whelan, accused of espionage in Russia, is trying to delay the start of court hearings in his case by deliberately stalling the process of his familiarization with case files, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

"The investigation into Paul Whelan’s case was over on August 30. The judicial process, in which all evidence of his guilt would be revealed, could have begun long ago. However, Whelan is deliberately creating delays in the process of his familiarization with case files," the ministry said in a Twitter post.

US citizen Paul Whelan, 48, who also holds British, Canadian and Irish passports, is a global security chief at BorgWarner, a Michigan-based automotive components company. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) informed that Whelan had been detained on December 28, 2018 in Moscow while on an alleged spy mission. A criminal investigation was opened against him on espionage charges carrying a punishment of up to 20 years behind bars.