Russian Foreign Ministry Delayed US Diplomats' Visit To Whelan At FSB Request - US Embassy

US diplomats planned to visit Paul Whelan, detained in Moscow on espionage suspicions, on January 17, but the Russian Foreign Ministry, after initially agreeing, delayed the visit at the request of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), the US Embassy in Russia told RIA Novosti on Tuesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd January, 2019) US diplomats planned to visit Paul Whelan, detained in Moscow on espionage suspicions, on January 17, but the Russian Foreign Ministry, after initially agreeing, delayed the visit at the request of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), the US Embassy in Russia told RIA Novosti on Tuesday.

"U.S. Embassy consular officers had planned to visit Mr. Paul Whelan on January 17 at Lefortovo Prison. The visit had been approved by the Russian government and scheduled in advance by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). On the morning of January 17 - the same day as the scheduled visit - the Russian MFA informed us that the visit would be postponed and rescheduled at the request of the Federal Security Service (FSB)," the embassy's press secretary Andrea Kalan said.

Kalan added that the US diplomats were "strongly concerned about the delay in consular access both to Mr. Whelan and, more broadly, to U.S. citizens in Russia and about Russia's lack of adherence to the Bilateral Consular Agreement between our two countries."

"We have expressed our concern through diplomatic channels, and we call on Russia to meet its treaty obligations," the press secretary said.