The defunct website of a former U.S. Marine who was arrested on espionage charges in Russia reveals his enthusiasm for the country and multiple trips there.

Paul Nicholas Whelan, 48, is a resident of Michigan who was arrested on December 28 in Moscow while allegedly participating in a 'spy mission' there.

Whelan's brother said he was in Russia to attend a friend's wedding. He took regular trips to Russia over the years for both work and pleasure, his family said.

He is employed as the director of global security for automotive parts manufacturer BorgWarner, and is responsible for physical security of the company's properties, the company said.

Whelan posted this photo of himself on the site wearing a Spartak Moscow football jersey on the Russian social media site VK in 2016

Whelan posted these photos in September showing himself on a Bombardier challenger jet

Paul Whelan is seen in a 2006 photo taken outside the Kremlin in Moscow. He visited Russia regularly, and his brother says he was there for a wedding when he was arrested

An archived version of paulnwhelan.com (above) was reviewed by DailyMail.com and describes a 2006 trip to Russia. An image of the site appears on Wayback Machine Internet Archive

His website, paulnwhelan.com, describes a 2006 visit to Russia, which appears to be Whelan's first trip to the country. An archived version of the site as it appears on Wayback machine Internet Archive was reviewed by DailyMail.com.

Whelan is seen on a prior trip to Russia. He visited regularly for work and pleasure

'My recent visit to Russia was a great experience. I had quite an enjoyable time exploring Moscow and Saint Petersburg,' he wrote.

'Having grown up during the Cold War, it was a dream of mine to visit Russia and meet some of the sneaky Russians who had kept the western world at bay for so long!!'

'I was fortunate enough to meet nice people and had several pleasant excurisons throughout the country. My language skills are certainly improving!!'

The website describe's a 'friend' named Maxim that Whelan made on his travels, who was 'currently serving with the Russian Army in Moscow' at the time.

'We met in Moscow and visited many interesting areas of the city together. We have stayed in touch with one another and have shared many interesting stories and experiences,' Whelan wrote.

'The Russian people were very polite and kind to a stranger who didn't speak the language and spent a lot of time wandering around the Metro without a clue as to where he was going!!'

'The Russian language is very difficult to learn, but I've been slowly studying and learning from my friends,' he continued.

The website's photos have not been preserved, though the captions remain.

In one, Whelan ironically notes: 'This is 'Lubyanka' where the KGB has our spies locked in the basement!!'

Lubyanka is the popular name for the headquarters of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the same agency that arrested Whelan on December 28. It is the successor agency to the Soviet Union's KGB.

Currently, Whelan has an account on Russian social media site VK, where he has 70 friends and regularly posts updates in rudimentary Russian, including one that said 'President Trump Forward!!'

He also posted a photo of himself on the site wearing a Spartak Moscow football jersey. He has not been online since December 28, the day of his arrest.

On his profile on VK, a Russian social media website, Whelan wrote about Putin and also posted 'GOD SAVE PRESIDENT TRUMP'

In one photo caption on his defunct website, Whelan ironically notes: 'This is 'Lubyanka' where the KGB has our spies locked in the basement!!'

The Lubyanka is seen in a file photo. Years before his arrest in Russia on espionage charges, Whelan shared a photo of the building and joked that there were 'spies locked in the basement'

Whelan (above) served multiple tours of duty in Iraq as a Marine

Paul Whelan is seen in a family photo provided by his brother. The Marine veteran from a suburb of Detroit was arrested in Russia on December 28 on espionage allegations

David Whelan told the Financial Times that his brother was staying in Moscow’s Metropol Hotel, close to the Kremlin, with guests attending a party for the wedding.

Whelan was born in Canada to British parents, but lives in Michigan now, his brother said. The State Department has said he is a U.S. citizen.

Public records show that Whelan is a resident of Novi, Michigan, a small city on the northwest outskirts of Detroit.

Whelan is a federally licensed firearms dealer, records show. His license lists his business as Kingsmead Arsenal in Novi, and is valid for dealing and repairing firearms.

He has a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and a master's in business administration, he said in a 2013 deposition for an age discrimination suit that other parties had filed against one of his former employers.

From 1988 to 2000 Whelan served as a police officer on the Chelsea, Michigan, force, and as a deputy in the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office.

His military service began in 1990. He was in the Marines reserves from 1990 to 2001, the year he joined Troy, Michigan-based staffing firm Kelly Services as an IT project manager.

Two years later, in 2003, he took military leave to serve in Iraq, and didn’t return to Kelly Services until 2008. In 2010 he was made senior manager of global security and operations at Kelly.

Paul Nicholas Whelan, 48, (above) is a retired Marine and was visiting Moscow to attend a wedding when he was arrested on December 28, his brother said

The FSB revealed on Friday that Whelan had been arrested. Pictured above are the State Historical Museum (left) in Moscow and the towers of the Kremlin (right)

Whelan focused on physical security for the company's headquarters, and in particular on preventing workplace violence, according to a 2013 interview with Security Magazine.

His work would have brought him into contact with federal law enforcement and even foreign embassy staff.

Whelan said in the deposition that 'Kelly Services is a global company, and we work with federal agencies all the time, whether it is OSAC or the LEGATT at the foreign embassies, or we work with HUD or DEA, FBI, ATF, whomever in the United States.'

A spokeswoman for Kelly Services told DailyMail.com that Whelan was employed there until February 2016. She declined to comment further, citing company policy.

Whelan joined automotive parts maker BorgWarner in 2017, a company source told DailyMail.com.

Michigan-based auto parts maker BorgWarner confirmed in a statement to DailyMail.com that Paul Whelan is currently employed there overseeing facility security.

'We can confirm that Mr. Whelan currently serves as the company’s director, global security. He is responsible for overseeing security at our facilities in Auburn Hills, Michigan and at other company locations around the world,' company said in a statement.

'BorgWarner has been in contact with the relevant U.S. Government authorities and has offered our full cooperation in order to help our employee and the U.S. government. We ask that any further inquiries regarding this issue be directed to the U.S. State Department,' the company added.

Experts on the Kremlin quickly speculated that Paul Whelan's arrest was bogus, and an attempt to create leverage against America in the case of Maria Butina, a Russian woman who recently pleaded guilty in the U.S. to acting as an illegal foreign agent.

Russian citizen Maria Butina pleaded guilty to joining a conspiracy on behalf of the Kremlin to cultivate sources inside the Republican party before the 2016 presidential election

'The arrest of American Paul Whelan in Moscow by the FSB as he was visiting Russia to attend a wedding looks increasingly like a hostage situation,' financier Bill Browder, who calls himself Vladimir Putin's 'Enemy Number One', wrote on Twitter early Tuesday.

'All foreign travellers to Russia should beware that anything could happen. The US government should intervene decisively in this case,' Browder wrote.

Browder had previously speculated that Whelan was arrested because 'Putin wants a hostage for leverage purposes.'

At a press conference last week, Putin denied that Butina was a Russian agent, saying that the 'law of retaliation states, 'An eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth,' but insisting 'we will not arrest innocent people simply to exchange them for someone else later on.'

Whelan's arrest was announced on Monday in a terse statement from Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).

'On December 28, 2018, in the city of Moscow, a US citizen Paul Whelan was detained by officers of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation during a spy mission,' the statement said.

No other details about the allegations against Whelan were immediately available.