Michael McFaul: It Sounds Like Russia Is Holding Paul Whelan as a Hostage in Return for Maria Butina

EXCERPT:

VOSSOUGHIAN: "I want to start with the news that Whelan has been granted consular access. What does that mean for him?"
McFAUL: "That means that somebody from the embassy can go in and see him and talk to him, see how he’s doing. That’s a good sign. That’s standard operating procedure, but everything else is not standard operating procedure here. This is a very strange case, and it’s strange mostly to me because they haven’t revealed any of the facts of this allegation. Normally, when these kinds of incidents have happened, including when I was ambassador, the Russians were very proud of the facts that they allegedly had for these espionage investigations. This one is very mysterious, which leads many people to believe that it’s not true, including me. It sounds like it has been concocted, a story to hold him perhaps as a hostage in return for the Russian Maria Butina who we are holding right now."