Page 28 - Consular Access News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

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 you'll also get this free beneficiary planner, and it's yours just for calling. so call now. welcome back. we turn now to moscow where russia's 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 for spying. paul's twin brother david is speaking out insisting he has innocent and really was i...

Spy. he definitely wouldn't do anything to break the laws, and i can't imagine that he would have broken spy laws in any country, let alone in russia. >> i'm 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 him, see how he's doing. that's a good sign. that's standard operating procedure, but everything ...

Page because the russian friends had one. >> he could face up to 20 years in prison under russian law. here's what his brother said about the claims of spying. >> there's no way that paul's 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 news intelligence and national security reporter ken delainian is following this, as well. we learn...

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 noticed that he was no longer in communication. the with white house is pushing for consular access...

>> reporter: well, we know his name is paul nicholas whealan, because that's the name that's been given to us by the russian authorities. in terms of what exactly he's been doing, we're pretty much in the dark, to be frank with you. we know that the russians say that he was caught spying, there's 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. citizen under article 276 of the criminal code. and that's espionage. the investigation is underway...