Nominee for US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan vowed on Wednesday to press Russian authorities for the release of spy suspect Paul Whelan and for changes in the case of Baring Vostok investment fund founder Michael Calvey
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th October, 2019) Nominee for US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan vowed on Wednesday to press Russian authorities for the release of spy suspect Paul Whelan and for changes in the case of Baring Vostok investment fund founder Michael Calvey."If confirmed, I intend to continue to press the Russian government for the release of Paul Whelan, who has been imprisoned without charges for nearly a year, and to demand that Michael Calvey's case be disposed of in a civil proceeding, not in a criminal court," Sullivan said during a confirmation hearing held by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Whelan, who is also a citizen of Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, was arrested in Russia in December 2018 on charges of espionage, though he insists that he was in Russia to attend a friend's wedding. Court papers have revealed that he had frequented Russia since 2007. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
US investor Calvey was detained in Moscow alongside five other suspects in February over suspected complicity in the theft of 2.5 billion rubles (over $38 million) from Russia's Vostochny Bank. Calvey insists that he is not guilty and has not committed any crimes. He has been held under house arrest since April.
