Latest news says Whelan is a dual US and ...
UK citizen. Interesting development fir the Russian FSB!

'Sapere aude'

○ Russia's Arrest of Paul Whelan Is Payback for Maria Butina, CIA Veterans Say | Daily Beast |
○ Russia Charges American Marine With Espionage As Moscow's Relationship With the U.S. Deteriorates | Newsweek |
○ Paul Whelan latest: Ex-US marine accused of spying in Russia is British citizen

"Rosbalt reported that on the day of his arrest, Whelan met a Russian citizen, a person he had known for a long time and whom he had repeatedly tried to recruit as an agent to obtain information about the staff of Russian intelligence agencies, according to its source. Whelan received an electronic device with a list of employees of a classified department, Rosbalt reported, then Federal Security Service officers broke into his room at the Metropol Hotel five minutes later and detained him."

His position at Kelly Services put him in frequent contact with a variety of federal agencies.

"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. We work with federal agencies in Canada, and what have you, all over the place. So we come in contact with federal agencies and officers all the time."

Related reading ...

○ Maria Butina and the Criminalization of Citizen Diplomacy | The Nation - Dec. 26, 2018 |

'Sapere aude'

Britain worried about U.S./UK citizen detained for spying in Russia | Reuters - 12 min. ago |

Britain is extremely worried about Paul Whelan, a dual U.S./UK citizen who has been charged with espionage in Russia, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Friday.

"We are extremely worried about Paul Whelan, we have offered consular assistance. The U.S. are leading on this because he is a British and American citizen."

BREAKING @Jeremy_Hunt says UK not ruling out anything in case of Paul Whelan including possibility Russia is detaining him on false spying charges to use as leverage against UK on #Salisbury or US over Maria Butina. "Individuals should not be used as pawns of diplomatic leverage"

— Deborah Haynes (@haynesdeborah) January 4, 2019