Page 14 - Consular Access News Today

Back to saudi arabia to set up a hospital. the state department confirming he is detain ed there and says its raised the case with the saudi government. so, what do we know about this? >> well, his family believed that while hes in jail, hes psychologically deteriorating. he has little contact with them. occasional phone contact, but we learned on sunday through jake tappers interview with john bolton, that u.s. fishes have been able to meet with him. >> what do you know about this? what is the ...

He had four passports. it complicates the issue of consular responsibility when it comes to which country needs to sbreerd intercede on his behalf. they have all applied for consular access. so far the u.s. is taking the lead because whelan entered on his u.s. passport. john huntsman has visited him in prison. the other issue raised is the possibility that this is part of a larger scheme, perhaps a prisoner swap to exchange him for a russian whos being detantd in the u.s. you mentioned maria bat...

Know is paul whelan in custody, and they say he was caught spying. beyond that, theres been absolutely no details given about what he was accused of doing specifically. just that he was arrested december 28th in the russian capital, moscow. in terms of consular access, the russians have 72 hours under the vienna convention to give consular access to u.s. diplomats so they can meet with mr. whelan and talk to him about the beltway in which hes being -- the way in which hes being kept, the treatme...

You. in short, what theyre saying is very little beyond the initial statement that they put out when paul whelan was initially detained back on the 28th of december. thats when they said they arrested him. the fsb, russias main counter espionage agency, saying that a u.s. citizen has been taken into custody who was caught spying in the russian capital. thats as far as their statement goes. in terms of consular access, we know the u.s. has requested that kind of access, and indicated that the rus...

Says the u.s. is prepared to demand his immediate return. we made clear our expectation that we will learn more about the charges, come to understand what it is he is accused of and if the detention is not appropriate we will demand his immediate return. >> his family says he was in russia for a wedding and claims his innocence is undoubted. mark savage is following the story from michigan. what else are we hearing about the case? >> reporter: this is officially known as consular access. its som...

And with this plan, you can pick your payment date, so you can time your premium due date to work with your budget. so call now for free information. and youll also get this free beneficiary planner, and its yours just for calling. so call now. welcome back. we turn now to moscow where russias foreign ministry has granted consular access to paul whelan, the former marine detained in russia. russia claims the 48-year-old was apprehended during an espionage operation and faces 20 years in prison...

Spy. he definitely wouldnt do anything to break the laws, and i cant imagine that he would have broken spy laws in any country, let alone in russia. >> im joined now by michael mcfaul, former u.s. ambassador to russia and msnbc international affairs analyst. thank you so much for joining us. happy new year to you. i want to start with the news that whelan has been granted consular access. what does that mean for him? >> that means that somebody from the embassy can go in and see him and talk to ...

Page because the russian friends had one. >> he could face up to 20 years in prison under russian law. heres what his brother said about the claims of spying. >> theres no way that pauls a spy. paul had a law enforcement career before the marine career and in corporate security and of all the people i know he would be aware of the risks of getting sideways of law in a foreign country. >> i want to bring in ambassador wendy sherman once again and author of "not for the faint of heart." and nbc ne...

Start with this, his innocence is undoubted. that is from the family of a retired u.s. marine owho has been detained in rusrussia, and rejecting the accusations of russia that he is a spy. he is paul wheelen and a former marine from michigan, and the russian security agency released a brief statement saying that he is arrested in an espionage operation, but they did not release any specifics. he could face up to 20 years in prison. and they say that he was in moscow to attend a wedding when they...

>> reporter: well, we know his name is paul nicholas whealan, because thats the name thats been given to us by the russian authorities. in terms of what exactly hes been doing, were pretty much in the dark, to be frank with you. we know that the russians say that he was caught spying, theres been a very short statement issued by the russian fsb, which is the main counter-espionage agency in this country. it says that the educative debate of the fsb initiated a criminal case against the u.s. citi...