successor agency that arrested whelan it is now overseen by russias justice ministry but several lawyers in other cases have previously told abc news they believe the fsb ultimately retains control an undated photo of the red square in moscow stockgetty images the united states as well as canada the united kingdom and ireland have all offered consular assistance to whelan who holds citizenship for all four countries whelans family have said the russian charges are impossible director of security for the american carparts supplier borgwarner whelan was in moscow attending the wedding of an old friend from the marines when he was detained in his hotel hours before the ceremony his russian lawyer has said whelan intends to plead not guilty he was detained redhanded irish diplomats visited whelan on wednesday and spent about an hour with him the imprisoned americans family said the irish consular staff said the prison conditions were okay that he had his glasses and was working on learning some russian words whelans twin brother david said in a statement the irish diplomats were able to give whelan some toiletries such as soap and a toothbrush as well as taking messages from him to pass along to his family it was the first consular visit to whelan since the us ambassador to moscow jon huntsman visited whelan on january 2 they said a dispute appeared to be brewing over britains access to whelan after russias foreign minister sergey lavrov on wednesday asserted that the united kingdom uk had yet to request a consular visit to whelan britains embassy in moscow released a statement contradicting that asserting that embassy officials made a request for access on january 2 and that russian officials had confirmed receipt of the request more paul whelan made for a convenient target for russian intelligence exofficials lavrov linked the supposed delay to the uks unwillingness to grant russian officials consular access in the case of sergey and yulia skripal the former russian spy and his daughter poisoned with a nerve agent in britain last march britain accuses russia of trying to murder skripal and has placed him and his daughter under protection saying it fears russia might try to harm them again lavrov also denied suggestions that russia had seized whelan with the aim of exchanging him for russians jailed abroad we never do such things lavrov said at a press conference in moscow asserting that whelan had been detained while conducting concrete illegal activities in a hotel russias domestic security service known as the fsb arrested whelan in his room at moscows upscale metropole hotel near the kremlin he was detained redhanded lavrov contended