III 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 308 

Calling on the Government of the Russian Federation to provide evidence 

or to release United States citizen Paul Whelan. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 11, 2019 

Mr. PETERS (for himself and Ms. STABENOW) submitted the following 

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Calling on the Government of the Russian Federation to 

provide evidence or to release United States citizen Paul 

Whelan. 

Whereas United States citizen Paul Whelan is a resident of 

Novi, Michigan, and a United States Marine Corps veteran; 

Whereas Paul Whelan traveled to Moscow for the wedding of 

a personal friend on December 22, 2018; 

Whereas Russia’s Federal Security Service arrested Paul 

Whelan at the Metropol Hotel in Moscow on December 

28, 2018, and charged him with espionage; 

Whereas Paul Whelan was imprisoned in Lefortovo Prison 

and continues to be held there more than eight months 

after his arrest; 


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•SRES 308 IS 

Whereas the Federal Security Service has not provided any 

evidence of supposed wrongdoing; 

Whereas a Moscow court has extended Paul Whelan’s pretrial detention multiple times without publicly presenting 

justification or evidence of wrongdoing; 

Whereas officials from the United States Embassy in Moscow 

have routinely had their topics of discussion with Paul 

Whelan severely limited by the Federal Security Service; 

Whereas even Paul Whelan’s Federal Security Service-appointed lawyer, Vladimir Zherebenkov, said on May 24, 

2019, ‘‘[The Federal Security Service] always roll[s] out 

what they have, but in this case, we’ve seen nothing concrete against Whelan in five months. That means there 

is nothing.’’; 

Whereas the United States Ambassador to Russia, Jon 

Huntsman, responded on April 12, 2019, to a question 

about the detention of Paul Whelan, ‘‘If the Russians 

have evidence, they should bring it forward. We have seen 

nothing. If there was a case, I think the evidence would 

have been brought forward by now.’’; and 

Whereas Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Russian 

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on May 14, 2019, and 

urged him to ensure United States citizens are not unjustly held abroad: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) urges the Government of the Russian Fed3 eration to present credible evidence on the allega4 tions against Paul Whelan or immediately release 

5 him from detention; 


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•SRES 308 IS 

1 (2) urges the Government of the Russian Fed2 eration to provide unrestricted consular access to 

3 Paul Whelan while he remains in detention; 

4 (3) urges the Government of the Russian Fed5 eration to ensure Paul Whelan is afforded due proc6 ess and universally recognized human rights; 

7 (4) encourages the President and the Secretary 

8 of State to continue to press the Government of the 

9 Russian Federation at every opportunity and urge 

10 the Government of the Russian Federation to guar11 antee a fair and transparent judicial process without 

12 undue delay in accordance with its international 

13 legal obligation; and 

14 (5) expresses sympathy to the family of Paul 

15 Whelan and expresses hope that their ordeal can 

16 soon be brought to an end. 

Æ 


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