- The Washington Times - Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who was sentenced to 16 years in Russian prison last week on spying charges, is hoping to be released as part of a prisoner swap, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Mr. Whelan, 50, who has American, British, Irish and Canadian citizenship, has denied being a spy and claimed he was set up by Russian authorities who arrested him in December 2018 at Moscow hotel where he was attending a friend’s wedding.

Russian officials claim Mr. Whelan was caught with a USB drive containing classified information. Mr. Whelan has said it was slipped into his pocket moments before his arrest by a Russian security agent.

His lawyer, Vladimir Zherebenkov, told Russian-based Interfax news agency that Mr. Whelan ” hopes that he will be swapped for Russians in the near future who have been convicted in the United States.”

“Today we met [Mr. Whelan] in the detention facility and after a discussion it was decided not to appeal the verdict because he doesn’t believe in Russian justice,” he told the publication.

U.S. officials tried unsuccessfully over the past 18 months to intervene in the case of Mr. Whelan, who pleaded not guilty. The case has become a flashpoint in Washington-Moscow relations and complicated President Trump’s hopes of forging a more cooperative relationship with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Mr. Whelan has had health problems while in custody — recently undergoing a hernia treatment — and Mr. Pompeo said Russian authorities “put his life at risk by ignoring his long-standing medical condition” and “unconscionably kept him isolated from family and friends.”

• Lauren Toms can be reached at lmeier@washingtontimes.com.

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