The FSB detained US citizen Paul Whelan in Moscow "during a spy action," the public relations center of the department said.

"On December 28, 2018, in the city of Moscow, a US citizen Paul Whelan was detained by officers of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation during a spy action," the FSB said.

A criminal case was initiated against a US citizen under art. 276 of the Criminal Code "Espionage". The penalty for it is from 10 to 20 years in prison.

“The necessary investigative actions are being carried out,” concluded the FSB. The Department has not yet provided other details about the activities of the detainee.

The US diplomatic mission in Russia was informed about the detention of an American citizen, the Foreign Ministry said.

“The US Embassy in Moscow, in strict accordance with the bilateral consular convention, was promptly notified of the fact of detention,” RIA Novosti reports the ministry’s statement.

Later, the State Department confirmed that they had received the notification, and also stated that they had requested consular access to the detainee.

  • The building of the US Embassy in Moscow
  • RIA News
  • © Maxim Blinov

"Engaged in industrial espionage"

In the Federation Council, in a conversation with RT, they expressed confidence that the FSB had long watched a citizen detained on December 28.

“I’m sure our Federal Security Service has been working a long way, followed this citizen and revealed that he is engaged in espionage. And such people should be delayed, ”said Sergey Tsekov, a member of the committee on international affairs of the Federation Council.

At the same time, the intelligence activities of the Americans never ceased, Alexey Chep, deputy chairman of the Duma’s international affairs committee, said in an interview with RT.

“Including, this is purely military espionage, interest in new developments of our defense industry and various other issues. These services have been operating for hundreds of years in all countries, ”said the parliamentarian.

The HSE professor, political analyst Oleg Matveychev agreed with him, who noted that the American side is constantly interfering in the affairs of Russia.

“They are engaged in industrial espionage, trying to get into the sphere of high technologies. Americans are increasingly lagging behind in defense matters, cannot implement projects with laser weapons, while Russia has already tested and will be adopting a hypersound, ”says Matveychev.

"Nevertheless, it should be noted the successful work of our counterintelligence," - said Chep.

He suggested that the United States could follow the response.

“They can detain a Russian citizen, accuse him of something and send him, it’s not difficult,” said the deputy.

According to Matveychev, the American side, based on the previous experience of detaining US representatives in Russia, will soon come up with accusations against Moscow.

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“Since we have experience of similar arrests of American diplomats, Russia will be accused of unconstructive and other behavior and mirror actions of expulsions, that is, the next aggravation of relations,” the expert believes.

According to political analyst Alexander Asafov, the United States often resort to mirror rhetoric, accusing Russia of interfering in the internal affairs of Washington, while American citizens are caught in similar activities.

“This is a standard scheme when, having done or planning to do something, they blame Russia for this in advance. This is not even a rhetorical, but a political device. Mirror charges exist, and Americans often accuse us of doing great things themselves, ”said the expert.

There are several further scenarios of actions regarding a US citizen detained on December 28, which depend on the severity of the crimes imputed to him, Asafov suggested.

“If there is something frivolous and he will simply be expelled from the country, then a loud media career awaits him with an interview as a victim of the regime and other presentation of him as an innocent detainee hero,” said the expert.

FSB activities

In 2018, the FSB reported on the arrest on suspicion of espionage of several foreign citizens, mostly Ukrainian.

So, in September 2018, a citizen of Ukraine Sergey Stepanenko was detained in the Krasnodar Territory. In the course of the investigation, it turned out that the man was in the Kuban on the instructions of the Ukrainian special services and was collecting data on military facilities, the movement of equipment and the personnel of the Krasnodar employees. He was detained before the transfer of this information to the Ukrainian side.

In April, in the Nizhny Novgorod region, FSB officers detained a Ukrainian citizen, Igor Kiyashko. He was accused of espionage and attempted smuggling of military components. In December, a man was sentenced to eight years in a high security colony.

In February, a citizen of Ukraine Konstantin Davydenko was detained in Simferopol. The man collected information representing state secrets. According to the FSB, the compound of the Federal Service of the National Guard was the subject of his interest.