MOSCOW, Russia (NBC) – Russia’s domestic security agency says they have a US citizen is in custody, accused of espionage.
That country’s federal security service—or FSB, a top KGB successor agency—says they detained U.S. citizen Paul Whelan in Moscow this past Friday.
It was also reported by TASS, the Russian news agency.
The FSB says Whelan was caught during an espionage operation but gave no further details.
The US State Department has not yet confirmed the identity of the man Russia says they’ve taken into custody but acknowledged receiving formal notification from the Russian Foreign Ministry of the detention.
The State Department says Russia is under obligation by the Vienna convention to provide them consular access to the citizen and are awaiting Russia’s compliance.
The US embassy in Moscow had no further comment Monday.
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