Pompeo demands immediate return of American detained as spy in Russia

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is demanding answers from Russia after it detained a U.S. citizen on espionage charges.

Reuters reports that Pompeo told journalists in Brasilia, where he is attending Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s inauguration, that the U.S. Consulate in Russia hopes to gain access to American Paul Whelan within hours and that the U.S. needs an explanation for his arrest.

“We are hopeful within the next hours we will get consular access to see him and get a chance to learn more,” Pompeo said, according to the Daily Mail.

{mosads}Russian security forces arrested Whelan during a spy operation on Friday, according to state media reports, but the Russian government has yet to give an official reason for his detention.

“The investigative department of the FSB of Russia against a US citizen opened a criminal case under article 276 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation [‘Espionage’],” Russia’s FSB agency told the news agency Tass.

If convicted, Whelan reportedly faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

Whelan’s arrest comes weeks after Maria Butina, a Russian woman accused of operating as an unregistered foreign agent in the U.S. with the purpose of setting up back channels to the Russian government within conservative organizations, pleaded guilty to acting as a Russian agent.

Russian and U.S. relations have deteriorated over accusations of Russian meddling in U.S. elections, as well as Russia’s actions in Ukraine which most recently included the capture of several Ukrainian sailors.

In a holiday letter Sunday to President Trump, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin “stressed that Russia-US relations are the most important factor behind ensuring strategic stability and international security, and reaffirmed that Russia is open to dialogue with the United States on the most extensive agenda,” the Kremlin previously said in a statement over the weekend.