American charged with spying

Russia’s domestic security agency says it has arrested a US citizen on spying charges.

The Federal Security Service, or FSB, the top KGB successor agency, said Paul Whelan was detained in Moscow on Friday. The agency said in a statement yesterday that he was caught “during an espionage operation”, but didn’t give any details.

Spying charges carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years in Russia.

The US State Department said it was “aware of the detention of a US citizen by Russian authorities” and had received formal notification from the Russian Foreign Ministry.

It said it was pushing for consular access to the detained American.

The State Department did not confirm the name of the detained citizen or provide any information about the case, citing “privacy considerations”.

The arrest comes as RussiaUS ties have sunk to post-Cold War lows over the Ukrainian crisis, the war in Syria and the allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.

Alexander Mikhailov, a retired FSB officer, said the arrest reflected the effectiveness of Russian counterintelligence.

“The service wouldn’t have made this information public unless it had solid evidence,” he told the RIA Novosti news agency.