Source: CNN News
Paul Whelan, a 54-year-old former US Marine Corps officer, was arrested in Moscow, Russia, on December 28, 2018, on the accusation of espionage. Whelan denies the charges against him, claiming he was in Russia for a wedding.
This former Marine Corps officer was released on August 1, 2024, after serving six years in a Russian prison. Throughout his time in custody, Whelan's family and the US government maintained his innocence and pushed for his release. His case strained relations between the US and Russia during this period.
Who is Paul Whelan?
Paul Whelan is a 54-year-old former US Marine Corps officer who was born on March 5, 1970, in Canada to British parents with Irish heritage. Whelan holds four citizenship: American, British, Canadian, and Irish. This former US Marine Corps officer was arrested in Moscow in December 2018 on suspicion of espionage. The case went on for 2 years, and he was sentenced to 16 years of imprisonment by the court in Moscow on June 15, 2020.
Early Life
Before enlisting in the army in 1994, Whelan held an IT management position with the Kelly Services staffing company, from which he took a military leave of absence. He also served in Iraq from 2003 to 2008.
He served as a staff sergeant with Marine Air Control Group 38, as well as an administrative clerk and administrative chief, during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
However, in January 2008, Whelan was convicted of larceny on multiple counts and was demoted to pay grade E-4 with a 60-day suspension. He was given a bad conduct discharge from the military.
Source: BBC
Arrest in Russia
The Russian Federal Security Service arrested Paul Whelan in Moscow in December 2018 on suspicion of espionage. Whelan has denied the charges, and his family believes he was set up. The Russian government claims he was caught with classified information.
At the time he was arrested, Whelan was director of global security and investigations for BorgWarner, an international automotive parts manufacturer based in Michigan.
Whelan's work with Kelly Services and BorgWarner provided him with contacts in the US intelligence community, federal agents, and foreign embassies. David Whelan, his twin brother, has stated that Whelan went to Moscow to attend a wedding. He entered Russia using his U.S. passport and had not been in contact with his family.
When the BBC interviewed his family, they cited that Whelan had bragged about knowing an agent of the FSB and was privy to an unusual number of personal details about his friend, including which intelligence training school he attended. They also mentioned that the man was one of his oldest friends in Russia, and Whelan had visited him before his arrest.
According to Paul Whelan's statement, he had lent 80,000 Russian rubles to his friend, which was for a wedding purpose. However, the man claimed that the funds were for intelligence. Whelan even stated that his friend framed him intentionally by visiting him unexpectedly during his stay in Moscow.
Due to Russian secrecy laws, Whelan's attorneys claimed that they were unable to reveal the name of Whelan's Russian friend. However, Whelan's family identified the person as Ilya Yatsenko, whom the Russian newspaper Kommersant described as a major in the FSB's Department "K," which keeps an eye on Russian economic crimes.
Charges and Campaign for Whelan’s Release
Paul Whelan was formally charged on January 3, 2019. According to Russian news agency Rosebalt, Whelan was caught in his hotel room at the Metropol Hotel while concluding a long outing with a Russian citizen, who handed him a USB flash drive containing "a list of all the employees at a classified security agency."
The case went on for two years, during which Whelan denied any involvement in espionage activities. Some speculations suggest that Whelan may have been set up so he could be exchanged for Maria Butina, a Russian gun rights activist who was jailed in the US in December 2018.
However, David Whelan dismissed these speculations as baseless. He said, "I can't imagine how someone with a law enforcement background who is also a former US Marine and who is now working in corporate security and is also aware of the risks of travel would have broken any law, let alone the law related to espionage."
On June 15, 2020, Whelan was convicted and sentenced to 16 years in a Russian prison for espionage by a court in Moscow. Whelan's family and the US government continue to insist on his innocence, claiming that Russian authorities set him up. The case has strained US-Russia relations even further.
After six years of imprisonment, he was finally released as part of a prisoner exchange alongside Evan Gershkovich at Ankara Esenboğa Airport.
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