Wedding..

 

Paul Whelan is a citizen of four countries - the US, Canada, the UK and the Irish Republic. 

He joined the US Marine Reserves in 1994. discharged from the marines for bad conduct. He was accused of using someone else's social security number, and "writing bad cheques.  

Russia Investigators said he was a spy for military intelligence with a rank of colonel or higher and had been caught red-handed with a computer flash drive containing classified information.  

Whelan said he had been in Russia for a friend's wedding and had been given the drive in a sting by a Russian friend. He said he had thought it contained holiday photos.

Whelan, 52, was given a 16-year jail sentence in 2020 after being arrested in Moscow on suspicion of spying in 2018. 

So what is the real story here?