Hunt warns Russia not to play games with Briton on spying charge

British foreign secretary ‘extremely worried’ about Paul Whelan and not ruling out any theories

Patrick Wintour, diplomatic editor, and Marc Bennetts in Moscow
Fri 4 Jan 2019 12.30 GMT

Jeremy Hunt, the UK foreign secretary, has said he is extremely worried about Paul Whelan, the British–American national arrested on spying charges by Russia.

Hunt added it would not be acceptable for Whelan to be used as a diplomatic pawn against either the UK or the US.

It has already been suggested that Whelan is being held as leverage to negotiate the release of Maria Butina, a Russian who recently pleaded guilty in the US to conspiring to act as an unregistered agent for Moscow.

Butina signed a broad cooperation agreement with the US justice department. Prosecutors said she tried to build a back-channel between Kremlin officials and Republican operatives during the 2016 presidential campaign.

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