Posted by
Ravenlocke
. . . . .Who is Paul Whelan?
Apparently, the problem is that Whelan is accused of espionage which seems to be far more serious than Griner's drug smuggling.
"As for Whelan, it does appear from what I have seen in the public record that he is a spook," said Boyle. "I am certain that negotiations will continue for his release. The Biden administration will have to offer an equivalent high value prisoner in order to obtain his release. Hopefully this can be accomplished in the immediate future."
The Paul Whelan case is very difficult, according to Daniel Lazare, investigative journalist and author of "America's Undeclared War."
"It (…) appears that the Russian government regards his case as more serious than Grinder's case because they believe he was engaged in espionage," Lazare told Sputnik. "Obviously [this is] a much more serious offense. A lot depends on the future course of US-Russian relations. I presume if they were to improve that the chances of Whelan's release would greatly increase. But unfortunately, I see no prospect of that occurring. So it's difficult to make predictions."
US Marine Corps veteran Whelan is a Canadian national who also has US, British, and Irish citizenship. On December 28, 2018, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) arrested him at his room in the Metropol hotel in Moscow after the ex-military serviceman received a flash drive containing a list of employees for a secret Russian agency. For his part, Whelan insisted that he was in Russia only to attend a friend’s wedding. He traveled to Russia several times, apparently, from 2006.
A former FSB official told Rossiya Segodnya that judging from the circumstances of Whelan's arrest, the Russian counterintelligence agents had thwarted a major operation by US intelligence services. Whelan was convicted on June 15, 2020, and received a 16-year prison sentence.
While the British mainstream press attempted to depict Whelan as "a Mr. Bean on holiday," he does not appear to be a simpleton.
From 1988 through 2000, Whelan worked as a police officer on the Chelsea, Michigan, force and as a deputy in the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office. It was also reported that Whelan began his military service as a US Marine reservist in 1990 (or 1994) to 2001.
Between 2003 and 2008, he served in Iraq being part of Operation Iraqi Freedom as a staff sergeant with Marine Air Control Group 38. Either in 2006 or 2007, Whelan spent his two vacation weeks in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia, according to the US press.
At the time of arrest, Whelan worked as director of global security and investigations for BorgWarner, a large automotive components manufacturer with more than 60 offices and manufacturing facilities located in 18 countries. Prior to being hired by BorgWarner, the Canadian-born national worked in global security operations for the office staffing firm Kelly Services. He managed and conducted investigations concerning the company's interests globally.
According to the US media, Whelan's position at Kelly Services put him in frequent contact with various US federal agencies, including DEA and FBI in the US and Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) at the foreign embassies, to name but a few.
At the same time, however, the US press tries to cast a shadow on Whelan's resume. US journalists claimed that the ex-Marine was "perhaps the last person" that the US government would use to collect intelligence.
They said that he did not have diplomatic immunity, something a CIA agent typically has when dispatched to Russia, according to them. Furthermore, they referred to the fact that in January 2008, Whelan was convicted in a special court-martial for attempted larceny, three specifications of dereliction of duty, making a false official statement, and other wrongdoings. While the reported misdeeds do not make Whelan look like James Bond, they don't prove his innocence, either.
