Deputy Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation Sergey Ryabkov said in the fields of the Forum “Primakovsky Readings”, which the grounds for the transfer of the American Paul Wilan convicted in Russia are absent, since it is serving a sentence of a particularly gravily article. His words leads TASS.
The diplomat noted that Moscow has repeatedly proposed to use the 1983 Council of Europe Council of Europe Convention on the transfer of convicted persons, but this is not the exchange of prisoners, but a different interaction format. “But in a situation, it is specifically with the floor of Wilan. There are no grounds for producing it in this context, because he was convicted of an article that treats his acts as very serious crimes,” said the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Ryabkov concluded that Russia has repeatedly offered the United States to consider the options for whom you can exchange in the procedure for using the convention mechanism, but the American side is not ready for a subject discussion.
Previously, the deputy head of the Foreign Ministry denounced the information that Washington and Moscow are negotiating the exchange of convicts in Russia for espionage from Paul Wilan on prisoners in the United States. He noted that there are no shifts in negotiations, despite the fact that Moscow offered to consider the possibilities to use the Council of Europe Convention on the transfer of convicted persons.
Paul Wilan was detained in Moscow on December 28, 2018. On the flash drive seized, the information constituting the state secret was discovered. On August 4, 2020, the sentence of the Moscow City Court, according to which the American was sentenced to 16 years of the colony of strict regime, entered into force. He was sent to the IC-18 colony, which is located in the Republic of Mordovia.