![]() They said he seemed to pop up every six months or so. He had visited Russia since at least 2006 - the trip that year was part of a special military furlough program - and was familiar to numerous Russians who had known him or interacted with him on social media. ![]() Whelan attended Northern Michigan University but did not graduate, and was deployed twice to Iraq before he was court-martialed by the Marine Corps in 2008 on charges of larceny and passing bad checks. Whelan - who joked about giving Alaska back to Russia as long as they took in a former governor and Republican vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin - was an unusual person with out-of-the ordinary travel and associations. Whelan was seized to exchange him for Ms. Current and former officials said it was possible Mr. ![]() Whelan, who could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted, his lawyer, Vladimir A. On Thursday, Russian authorities formally charged Mr. 13 in Federal District Court in Washington to conspiring to act as a foreign agent. Whelan’s arrest comes after a Russian woman, Maria Butina, admitted to being involved in an organized effort, backed by Russian officials, to lobby influential Americans in the National Rifle Association and the Republican Party and pleaded guilty on Dec. Whelan, 48, has become the latest pawn between Russia and the United States as rising tensions take on the cast of the Cold War years, when espionage charges and spy swaps were common. officers said they did not think he was a spy. Whelan’s status in detail, but former C.I.A. Both the United States and British governments refused to publicly discuss Mr. Whelan holds both British and American citizenship, and that both nations’ diplomatic services were trying to assist him. and its successors for Soviet dissidents and foreign spies.īritish officials said on Friday that Mr. Whelan, a former United States Marine and current security chief for BorgWarner, an international auto parts manufacturer, has been accused of espionage by Russia and is in solitary confinement in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo Prison - long used by the K.G.B. DKRO agents have also left feces in a diplomat's suitcase, the Journal reported.Įxperts say the group may be connected to a series of strange incidents in recent years, such as inexplicable flat tires on embassy cars and the suspicious death of a diplomat's dog.WASHINGTON - He loved to travel around Russia by train, collected tea glass holders stamped with Russian historical scenes and maintained social media friendships with ordinary Russians, from a hairstylist to retired members of the country’s military. Those familiar with the group's activity told the Journal that DKRO agents often taunt their targets by leaving various clues that they are watching: A burned cigarette on a toilet, for instance, or unflushed feces in a toilet. The American intelligence community has watched the DKRO with growing concern in recent years and now believes they were responsible for the arrest of journalist Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reported. ![]() The Russian Department for Counterintelligence Operations, or DKRO, is a secretive organization that operates under the FSB, Russia's security agency. ![]() It often indicates a user profile.Ī mysterious Russian spy agency known to only a handful of experts - and likely responsible for detaining at least three Americans - leaves bizarre calling cards to taunt American targets, the Wall Street Journal reported. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. ![]()
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