All news
16 Jan 2019, 15:19

British embassy claims to have filed request for consular access to Whelan

According to the embassy, the request was made January 3

MOSCOW, January 16. /TASS/. Great Britain did make an official request for consular access to Paul Whelan, detained in Russia on suspicion of espionage, the British embassy in Moscow told TASS on Wednesday.

"On January 3, Great Britain officially requested the Russian authorities to provide consular access to Mr. Whelan. The Russian Foreign Ministry later acknowledged the receipt of the request in a written form on January 5, 2019, as well as orally, at the ministry spokesperson’s press conference on January 11. Since then, we have maintained contact with the Russian authorities," the embassy said.

"In particular, we contacted them yesterday, on January 15, in order to make sure that consular access is provided in accordance with the 1963 Vienna Convention," the British embassy added.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at his annual news conference earlier on Wednesday that the British embassy in Moscow had not requested consular access to Whelan. He suggested that Great Britain was unwilling to invoke the convention as it had ignored Russia’s numerous requests to visit Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

Whelan’s detention

According to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), Whelan was detained in Moscow on December 28, 2018, while on a spy mission. The FSB Investigative Department opened an investigation under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code (espionage), which carries a punishment of ten to 20 years in prison.

Whelan, 48, works as the corporate security director for automotive parts supplier BorgWarner. According to the Washington Post, he enlisted in the US Marines in 1994 and "rose through the ranks to become a staff sergeant, serving two tours in Iraq, in 2004 and 2006." However, Whelan "was discharged for bad conduct in 2008 after being convicted of several charges related to larceny."

Apart from US citizenship, Whelan also holds British, Canadian and Irish passports. US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman visited him at Moscow’s Lefortovo pre-trial detention center on January 2.