Pompeo Slams Russia’s Jailing of American in Secret Spy Trial

(Bloomberg) -- A Moscow court found former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan guilty of spying and sentenced him to 16 years in prison Monday, drawing a sharp rebuke from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Whelan, 50, was arrested in December 2018 while attending a wedding in Moscow after receiving a flash drive with “state secrets” that he says he thought contained holiday pictures. He was convicted in a closed trial and sentenced Monday, according to a statement by his family.

“Outraged by the decision today to convict Paul Whelan on the basis of a secret trial, with secret evidence, and without appropriate allowances for defense witnesses,” Pompeo said on Twitter. “Paul’s treatment by Russian authorities continues to be appalling, and we demand his immediate release.”

U.S.-Russian relations are mired in a post-Cold War low point despite warm personal relations between presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Time is running out to extend or renegotiate the last remaining treaty regulating the arsenals of the world’s two biggest nuclear powers, while Russia remains under U.S. sanctions imposed in 2014 over the annexation of Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine.

Whelan’s family said they believe that now he’s been convicted Russia will try to use him as a bargaining chip to gain U.S. concessions.

Pompeo raised Whelan’s case at talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Washington in December, adding that “bringing home our citizens abroad as soon as possible is one of President Trump’s highest priorities.”

Last July, Interfax quoted a senior Russian official as proposing a swap of Whelan for a Russian pilot, Konstantin Yaroshenko, who is serving a 20-year sentence for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the U.S.

Whelan’s lawyers have two weeks to file an appeal, which is expected.

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