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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsUS citizen held in Moscow on espionage charges seeks Irish consular assistance
Canadian-born Paul Whelan is a US citizen and also holds an Irish passport.
He was arrested while he was in Moscow to attend a wedding.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said: "The Embassy of Ireland in Moscow has requested consular access to an Irish citizen currently detained in Russia after receiving a request for assistance.
"The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will provide all possible and appropriate assistance in relation to this case."
Mr Whelan is also a British citizen and is seeking assistance from all embassies of countries of which he is a citizen.
https://www.rte.ie/news/2019/0104/1020235-russia/
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Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)Whatever help I can get.
Crutchez_CuiBono
(7,725 posts)that's being claimed to be a spy. Spy swap(?) extraordinaire. She acts like she cant stand America anyway, send her 'home', and America gets a two-fer.
Marines in Russia? They had a shadow since the day they applied for the tickets to get there.
HipChick
(25,485 posts)Rowdyag
(104 posts)OnDoutside
(19,908 posts)an Irish citizen, I have no problem with that. My nephew has Irish, US and Philippines passports, which will be a huge help to him when he's an adult.
ScratchCat
(1,957 posts)in four different countries. Now, I have no idea why THAT is. But that would be the explanation.
demmiblue
(36,751 posts)Historic NY
(37,449 posts)[link:https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2019/01/02/paul-whelan-discharge-marines-larceny/2463709002/|]
Funny how he was hired as a police officer as a felon.
ScratchCat
(1,957 posts)lanlady
(7,133 posts)how the hell did he manage that? I'm of Irish descent, and I tell you, I'd LOVE to get hold of an Irish passport. Oh well!
This pretty much rules out Whelan being CIA. You need to be a US citizen with no formal ties to other countries, even friendly ones. That, plus his court martial and dishonorable discharge would disqualify him from CIA employment in any capacity.
But this all complicates the narrative that he was picked up in order to be traded for Maria Butina. Since the news broke of Whelan's arrest, my thinking was that a) this was not about trading her for him, since she was due to be deported anyway in a few months; b) Butina may not want to go back to Russia, given reports that she has been cooperating with the FBI. She'd be treated as a traitor to the motherland and ultimately "disappeared" c) if she had any thought of entering the witness protection program to avoid deportation to Russia, the arrest of Whelan could be seen as the Russians taking steps to ensure that she does not have that opportunity. Message to FBI: if you help her escape deportation to Russia (where we have a nice fresh batch of poison powder waiting for her), we'll lock up Whelan for the rest of his sorry life.
With four passports though - seems to me the US doesn't owe Whelan much. We could let him rot in jail indefinitely while his other nationalities - UK, Ireland, Canada - sort it all out. No deal on Butina in other words.
The Russians must have know about his multiple passports (and the implications for a fast resolution of his incarceration). So what was the benefit to them?