US embassy called last week for Russia to free former marine Paul Whelan, detained in 2018

This article is more than 8 months old

This article is more than 8 months old

A Moscow court has extended the detention of the former US marine Paul Whelan until 29 March on espionage charges, the Interfax news agency has reported.

Whelan, who holds US, British, Canadian and Irish passports, was detained in December 2018 and accused of spying.

The US embassy’s deputy chief of mission, Bart Gorman, last week called for Russia to free Whelan.

Whelan was detained by agents from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) in a Moscow hotel room on 28 December last year.

Moscow says he was caught with a computer flash drive containing classified information. Whelan says he was set up in a sting and had thought the drive, given to him by a Russian acquaintance, contained holiday photos.

He has been held in pre-trial detention while investigators look into his case.