Paul Wylan arrested for espionage fell "under the cap" of the FSB 12 years ago

The US citizen and three other states Paul Wylan, arrested in Russia on charges of espionage, interested the FSB during the first visit to Moscow in 2007. Then Wylan still served in the Marine Corps and was on vacation in Russia. Sources of Kommersant claim that he himself attracted the attention of special services, as he began to be interested in the contacts of the former and current FSB officers.

The phones used by Wylan were put on wiretap, his meetings were recorded. In conversations with acquaintances, the American supposedly either joke or seriously hinted that he was directly related to intelligence and was interested in secret information. In order to position one of the new acquaintances to himself, Wylan brought him the book “Goodbye, Lubyanka” with the gift inscription of the author - the former Major General of the KGB Oleg Kalugin , who is absent for treason and living in the United States.

Wylan traveled to Russia annually for 10 years, visiting mainly Moscow and St. Petersburg. During this time, he had good acquaintances, including special services employees. According to Kommersant, a flash drive with a list of personnel of one of the FSB divisions, upon receipt of which Wylan was detained in the Moscow Metropol hotel in December last year, he was handed over to a long -standing acquaintance, an acting employee of the special services.

Wylan claims that he did not know about the contents of the flash drive and thought that she contained photos from a trip to Sergiev Posad. The sources of the newspaper categorically reject this version: "He himself, in the conversation that took place between them the day before, clearly described the information that he needed."

At the end of October, Wylan’s lawyer Vladimir Zherebenkov said that the American maintained friendly relations with immigrants from Russian law enforcement agencies, they went on excursions together. “He himself fought in Iraq, he was more interesting with the security forces,” the lawyer explained. According to him, none of these acquaintances testified against Willn. “All of them were interrogated, they emphasized that Wylan did not try to recruit them,” the defender said (quote for TASS).

“We continue to get acquainted with the materials of the case, they are classified, but we can say that there is a lot of things that prove our version of provocation . In addition, none of the witnesses says that Paul bowed them to something, showed himself as an intelligence officer of the US intelligence agency,” RIA Novosti quotes the words. The investigation does not comment on its position in this case because of its secrecy.

Paul Wylan was arrested until December 29. At a meeting of the Lefortovo court on the extension of the arrest, the American complained that an employee of the Lefortovo pre -trial detention center threatened him with a pistol, and demanded the withdrawal of the prosecutor, since the supervisory authority did not respond to the violation of Wylan's rights. The representative of the Federal Penitentiary Service, for his part, said that the employees of the pre -trial detention center working with the suspects are serving without weapons.

Wylan does not admit guilt. "I am accused of not committing. The Russian authorities say that they caught agent 007, in fact it was Mr. Bin during the holidays," the American said in court. On November 15, his lawyers appealed to the decision on the maintenance of Wylan in custody, but relatives do not expect him to be transferred under house arrest.

In the summer, the US Embassy sent a note to the Russian Foreign Ministry due to improper treatment of an American in a pre -trial detention center. The diplomatic mission stated that Wylan’s condition worsened, and he was not given proper medical care. Consular supervision of the case is also led by Canada, Great Britain and Ireland, whose citizen is Wylan. According to Kommersant, the former Marine argued with his sister, which of them could get more passports.

After the first visit to the United States, Wylan was fired from the Marine Corps, accusing more than 10 thousand dollars of trying to steal the US government during service in Iraq and fraud with insurance. Lawyer Vladimir Zherebenkov confirmed that the tribunal found Wylan guilty, but then a higher court canceled this decision, withdrawing all the charges. Otherwise, Wylan could not get into the security service of a large commercial company, where he worked until his arrest in Moscow.