Russia says it caught former U.S. marine accused of spying red-handed

Russia said on Wednesday that it had caught former U.S. marine Paul Whelan, who is being held in Russia on spying charges, red-handed as he was carrying out illegal activities in his Moscow hotel room.

Whelan, a former U.S. marine who also holds British, Canadian and Irish passports, was detained by Russia's Federal Security Service on Dec. 28. His family say he is innocent and that he was in Moscow to attend a wedding.

"He was caught red-handed," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday during a news conference. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Christian Lowe; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Andrew Osborn)