Sputnik / Igor Zarembo
Russian Security Service, the FSB arrested a US citizen on suspicions of spying on December 28th. The announcement was made by the FSB on December 31st.
The American – Paul Whelan was arrested in Moscow “while carrying out an act of espionage.”
“The investigation department of the Federal Security Service of Russia initiated a criminal case against a US citizen under article 276 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The investigation is underway,” the statement read. Article 276 is espionage.
Article 276 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation sets forth that for proven espionage the conviction may be a prison sentence between 10 to 20 years.
“Article 276. Espionage
Transfer, and also collection, theft, or keeping for the purpose of transfer to a foreign state, a foreign organization, or their representatives of information constituting a state secret, and also transfer or collection of other information under the order of a foreign intelligence service, to the detriment of the external security of the Russian Federation, if these deeds have been committed by a foreign national or a stateless person, shall be punishable by deprivation of liberty for a term of 10 to 20 years.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry formally notified the US of the detention of the alleged agent, US State Department confirmed.
“We have been formally notified of the detention by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Russia’s obligations under the Vienna Convention require them to provide consular access. We have requested this access and expect Russian authorities to provide it,” a State Department spokesperson was cited by the Business Insider.
The spokesperson added, “Due to privacy considerations, we have no additional information to provide at this time.”
“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.
Major-General Alexander Mikhailov, a retired FSB officer, said the arrest reflected the effectiveness of Russian counterintelligence.
He furthermore anticipated the possible outcry by the West and MSM to reinforce the narrative of Russian aggression and spying.
“Now, we have to wait for the US answer. It is possible that cries will begin about violations of the rights of their citizen and so on. But if our counterintelligence did not have solid evidence it wouldn’t have made this information public.”
He also emphasized that the “confrontation” of the US and Russian security services has never led to an open confrontation between the countries in the past and he hopes that it would continue that way.
Earlier in December, Russian National Maria Butina pleaded guilty in a US court a conspiracy charge in a deal with prosecutors, and admitted to working with a top Russian official to infiltrate American conservative activist groups and politicians as an agent for Moscow.
MSM presented Butina as a spy, reinforcing the Russian spying narrative, while she was a lobbyist, similarly to many Israeli and Saudi Arabian lobbyists, who also conduct the business as “agents of a foreign country.”
Maria Butina, 30, is the first and only Russian national convicted of seeking to influence U.S. policy in the run-up to the 2016 election by acting as a foreign agent. She faces a possible maximum prison sentence of 5 years.
“………Major-General Alexander Mikhailov, a retired FSB officer, said the arrest reflected the effectiveness of Russian counterintelligence……..”
The GRU has been caught so many times for hacking (US and French elections), attempted coups (Montenegro), attempted murder (Skripals), spying on the OPCW etc. that they are at best the equivalent to the Keystone cops. This is simply payback for the arrest and plea bargain of Butina – another ill concieved influence campaign by the GRU. The Russians accused the US of “torturing” her to get a confession.
So far I didn’t see any convincing evidence that clearly shows GRU responsible for all teh listed accusations you mad. Can you share them, please?
I only saw and heard accusations.
Evidence hasn’t even been mentioned.
Caught hacking an election?
So many times!
Hilarious Tom, Happy New Year to you too. It must have been some party for you to be still off your head.
Troll much?
The Russians have never been caught hacking US or french elections, thats a moron native pushed by democrats who cant stand losing elections.
Coup in Montenegro, Please provide your evidence, or at-least a link to whatever non-credible propaganda publication that you read.
The skripals were not poisoned by the russians, it was a disinformation operation by the british government to deflect from their involvement in the chemical weapons attacks in syria. Once it became clear that the british operatives were caught supplying, training, and coordinating CW attacks, they launched this ridiculous propaganda stunt. Agent “Novichok”, aka British soap opera.
Butina is not even a spy. She is a russian girl who was banging some NRA clown. The idea that the Russian government would influence US policy through the NRA is as stupid as the rest of the democrat conspiracy theories. The confession you speak of is something everyone says when you tell them they are facing a life in prison. Less torture and more coercion, just ask general flynn, cohen, and anyone else mueller decided to persecute with the full force of the law, without an actual crime.
Do you get tired of lying? Maybe not, maybe you work for that shitty british propaganda office.
Why does South Front present MSN as a singular entity? He knows better than that. Why is South Front saying that this guy is totally guilty while the other person is totally innocent? There’s no way we could know that in either case. Why does the other fools on this channel present this as a war crime while ignoring that both sides definitely have people doing the exact same thing? Why does South Front feel the need to spell out the law against espionage? Except to make a full length article, that is. Why does Russia assume that the American press will have a field day with this? He evidently doesn’t understand Americans (no surprise).
The prelude to a ‘spy-for-spy’ trade?
Bingo!
Maybe the poor girl in solitary in the USA..
Interesting that the US refers to the Vienna Convention and expect Russia to abide by it. Knowing Russia, who happen to respect International Law and of their signatories will eventually allow access to Whelan, hopefully they take their time about it, about time that the US gets served with the same BS they dish out.
Indeed! Long over due!
Every Americunt in Russia is a spy or subversive. They use the cover of “tourists, journalists, students, academics and businessmen”. The Jew scum are the same or worse. Russia should be creating a biometric database of all of these arseholes and sharing with its allies.
“Russia’s FSB Arrests US Citizen On Suspsicions Of Espionage”
Lets rewrite that like an American/British media source would write it. Russia’s FSB Arrests US Citizen for Espionage.
The trick is to tack away the suspicion, in the American legal system all accused people are guilty. The British are working on eradicating the presumption of innocence, but are not quite there yet.
“Lets rewrite that like an American/British media source would write it. Russia’s FSB Arrests US Citizen for Espionage.”
more likely Russia’s FSB Arrests US Citizen
“The trick is to tack away the suspicion, in the American legal system all accused people are guilty.”
That is valid for US citizens arrested in the US. For US citizen arrested abroad, it’s the opposite – they are innocent even if proven guilty.
The case of US Amanda Knox arrested in Italy for the murder of the British citizen Meredith Kercher is a good example of what I mean.