MOSCOW. March 28 (Interfax) - The U. S. embassy in Russia has expressed its bewilderment at the absence of evidence of Paul Whelan's culpability three months on following his arrest.
"U.S. citizen Paul Whelan was arrested exactly 3 months ago today and still remains in detention with not a shred of evidence presented to date. The investigators said signed papers were 'in the mail' when they never were. What's that about? Where is the evidence?" the embassy wrote on Twitter.
Russian Federal Security Service officials detained Paul Whelan in Moscow on December 28.
The Russian special services are accusing Paul Whelan of spying for their U.S. colleagues, his lawyer said.
"The investigators believe he was spying for the U.S. special services," lawyer Vladimir Zherebenkov earlier told Interfax.
Moscow's Lefortovsky District Court ruled on February 22 to extend Whelan's arrest pending trial until at least May 28.
On December 28, 2018, Whelan was caught red-handed in Moscow. According to his lawyer, a memory stick containing information which constituted a state secret was seized from him. However, Whelan says he believed that the memory stick contained personal information from his previous visits to Russia and had not had time to look at its contents.
It later emerged that Whelan is also a citizen of the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Canada. These countries' embassies to Russia have received requests for assistance from him.
Whelan did not admit to any wrongdoing, considered his prosecution a mistake, and was hopeful that the investigation would reveal the truth.
Whelan's brother David said additionally that Paul is a retired marine. The detainee's family has sought assistance from the U.S. Congress, the U.S. embassy to Russia, and the Department of State, David Whelan said.