WASHINGTON, Jan 4 US does not want publicity in ongoing negotiations with Russia about the return of the American Paul Whelan, convicted of espionage, said John Kirby, coordinator of strategic communications for the White House National Security Council.
«We are not going to negotiate publicly, I will not even try to give context or details of ongoing discussions with the Russians,» he said at a briefing.
Kirby added that the US wants to see Whelan at home and is trying to secure his release.
Whelan was detained in Moscow on December 28, 2018 during, as the FSB reported, a spy operation. The defense claims that the American was the victim of a provocation: he was given a flash card, on which he allegedly expected to see a photo from a tourist trip to Sergiev Posad. The defendant himself in the last word said that he was not engaged in espionage. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison and sent to serve his sentence in a colony in Mordovia.
Whelan and his family are counting on his return to the US on an exchange, but he was not included in the exchange of Russian Viktor Bout for American basketball player Brittney Griner, which took place earlier in December.