“He no longer counts on a pardon, as he considers himself a hostage,” the lawyer told RIA Novosti after meeting with Whelan in the Mordovian colony.
In December 2018, the FSB announced the arrest of Whelan during an espionage rally in Moscow.
On June 15, 2020, the court found the American guilty of espionage against Russia and sentenced him to 16 years in a maximum security colony.