Posted on 01/01/2019 4:06:19 PM PST by yesthatjallen
The brother of a U.S. citizen arrested in Russia on espionage charges said Tuesday that he's innocent and was in Moscow to attend a wedding.
Paul Whelan, a retired Marine, was arrested in Moscow on Friday. The Russian Federal Security Service, in announcing the arrest three days later, said Whelan was caught "during an espionage operation," but gave no details.
"We are deeply concerned for his safety and well-being," his brother, David Whelan, said in a statement posted on Twitter. "His innocence is undoubted and we trust that his rights will be respected."
The Russian spying charges carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
David Whelan said on MSNBC that his brother was part of a wedding party, and the friend who was getting married had asked him to lead tours around the Kremlin because he had been to Russia before.
"He loves to travel so I wasn't at all surprised that he would be confident going to Russia. He has a law enforcement background, he's got his marine background, he does corporate security and he's aware of the risks of traveling in certain parts of the world," Whelan said.
The company Whelan works for, BorgWarner, an automotive parts supplier, said in a statement that Whelan serves as the company's director of global security and oversees a facility in Auburn Hills, Michigan, as well as other locations "around the world."
ETC...
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Another news source said his website was very pro Putin and Russia.....odd story.
Isn't that what you are supposed to say if you are a spy?
But, when was he or his cell phone in Prague?
Russia: A fascinating place to study, but not sure I’d wanna visit there except as part of a group.
I’ll bet there are still plenty of areas where the Soviet, Cold War attitude toward Americans continues to this day.
[ Isn’t that what you are supposed to say if you are a spy? ]
No, you’re supposed to say “I’m with Hillary! I’m with the Clinton Foundation!”.
Supposedly the friend married a Russian bride.
A Russian gun-rights activist, Maria Butina, is in U.S. custody after admitting she acted as a secret agent for the Kremlin in trying to infiltrate conservative U.S. political groups as Donald Trump was seeking the presidency. She pleaded guilty in December to a conspiracy charge as part of a deal with federal prosecutors.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed the case is fabricated and that Butina entered the guilty plea because of the threat of a long prison sentence.
Thanks Mueller.
Retaliation for corrupt Mueller arrest.
Certainly could be.
So maybe that explains why Borg Warner is down about 15% over the last month.
“Brother of American arrested”
...
“Paul Whelan, a retired Marine, was arrested”
What the hell does him having a brother matter? Fail.
Putin wants a bargaining chip.
Funny how it becomes more dangerous to visit Russia than it was during the cold war.....
I wonder if the anti-russia media hysteria is to blame for some of it...
If Hillary Clinton and Obama’s FBI can fabricate a “Trump-Russia collusion” story here in the U.S., then what’s wrong with Putin’s intelligence agencies fabricating a “Whelan-CIA collusion” story in Russia?
There is a subset of Americans intent
on hating the USSR back into existence.
I was expecting a little Tit for tat.
St. Petersburg was one of the stops on my Baltic cruise. We had to go through their “customs and security” just to get on our tour bus and then again when we got back. It was the only stop that made us do that. We were warned several times to not lose our passports, as we couldn’t get back on the ship, and there was no American Counsulate in St. Petersburg to get another one. We were also warned at every stop to beware of pickpockets. The buildings were beautiful, but I was so afraid, I barely got off the bus. I will never go back to Russia.
I would like to go to Egypt and see the Pyramids before the Taliban or ISIS decides to destroy them.
But I would likely feel the same way as you did in Russia.
One ‘false move’ from you, and your whole life as you know it could be upturned. I would feel that the natives didn’t want me there in the first place.
I am open for adventure, but I chose them with great care when I have a choice.
Time to seize all the assets and jail the figures in UraniumOne scandal, both in the US and Canada (freeze any ore from export on national security grounds and if the Canadians refuse to cooperate, start blocking any shipments of their products to the US).
I’ll eat more Wisconsin cheese if that will help.
Then open a bigger investigation into Clinton-Russian Collusion operations.
Let Putin know that we can play that game too, only bigger and better.
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