OREANDA-NEWSUS Charge d'Affaires and representatives of the Canadian, Irish and British embassies will visit Paul Whelan on Monday. This was reported on Twitter by the US Embassy in the Russian Federation. "Today, US Chargé d'Affaires Bart Gorman and colleagues - diplomats from Canada, Ireland and the UK - will visit Paul Whelan and give Christmas greetings from the family, the diplomatic corps, much-needed food, will tell Paul about the concern of the world community about his fate", the statement said.

Whelan, who, besides US citizenship, has British citizenship, as well as Canadian and Irish citizenship, was listed as the head of the security service at the large American company BorgWarner, which is based in Michigan and manufactures various components for automobiles. On December 28, 2018, the FSB of Russia detained him in Moscow during an espionage campaign.

The investigative department of the FSB of Russia has opened a criminal case against him under Article 276 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Espionage”), which provides for a punishment of imprisonment of 10 to 20 years.