After Christmas, Paul Whelan was detained in Russia on espionage charges. His family fears for his safety and says he isn’t a spy. The arrest comes after the U.S. charged Maria Butina with espionage, with some analysts wondering if the Whelan’s detention was done in retribution (via WSJ):
The family of an American detained in Russia over spying allegations said he was traveling in the country for a wedding and denied he was involved in espionage.
David Whelan, the twin brother of Paul Whelan, 48 years old, said his brother was a former Marine and former law-enforcement officer and that the family learned of his detention in Russia this week from media reports. Russia’s main security agency, the FSB, said in a brief statement Monday that Paul Whelan was arrested Dec. 28 while “carrying out spying activities,” but it provided no further details.
Mr. Whelan works as director of global security for BorgWarner Inc., an auto parts company in Auburn Hills, Mich., the company said, adding that it was in contact with relevant U.S. authorities and has offered its full cooperation to help Mr. Whelan and the government. BorgWarner said Mr. Whelan was in Russia for personal reasons.
David Whelan said his brother previously worked in corporate security at Kelly Services Inc., a staffing company based in Troy, Mich. A representative for Kelly Services said a Paul Whelan worked at the company until 2016, but said it wasn’t sure yet if he was the same one now detained in Russia.
“He would not have knowingly broken any law, let alone one involving espionage,” David Whelan told The Wall Street Journal in an email exchange.
In a statement issued later Tuesday, the family said they were “deeply concerned for his safety and well-being. His innocence is undoubted, and we trust that his rights will be respected.” The statement said the family lost communication with him Dec. 28. That was highly unusual, they said, even when he was traveling overseas.
Paul Whelan’s twin brother, David, says he was in Moscow for a wedding, according to CNN. The network interviews David, but also brought up something rather extraneous to the whole situation. It seems CNN scoured Paul’s social media history and found that he called the network fake news in a past post. Great Odin’s raven! The Daily Caller has more:
CNN’s Alisyn Camerota interviewed David Whelan, who is the brother of Paul. Camerota used the opportunity to grill Whelan about his brother’s anti-CNN social media posts.
Camerota asked Whelan about posts his brother made on a Russian social media platform, where he called CNN “fake news.
“There are some strange elements of your brother’s story,” Camerota said, describing a social media post where Paul Whelan was drinking coffee and watching CNN with the caption, “Just drinking coffee and watching fake news.”
Camerota continued, “Now, I’m not taking this personally that he’s pictured with CNN, but I just am wondering is this a statement on his part somehow?”
A bewildered David Whelan responded that he does not care about his brother’s social media and he just wants his brother home safe.
The State Department has demanded that Russia release him. Still, we have a spy game going on here, and CNN is interested in why an American, who has been detained on possibly bogus spy charges, called them “fake news” in an old post and then grill his brother on it. It must really sting them when Trump and his supporters trash the network, who then ironically conduct themselves in a manner worthy of the “CNN sucks” chant.
"Paul Whelan I believe was taken as a leverage for Vladimir Putin in response to the Maria Butina prosecution in Washington," says Russia critic @Billbrowder.
— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) January 2, 2019
Putin "was in a very weak position. He needed to change that... So he looked for a hostage." https://t.co/FmVepMzssQ pic.twitter.com/ncAO9vZps1
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