Moscow hits U.S. over spy case

Editor’s note: WND’s multi-lingual reporter Toby Westerman
specializes in monitoring global shortwave broadcasts and reading
foreign-language news journals for information not readily available
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By I.J. Toby Westerman
© 2000, WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.

Moscow has lashed out against the possible use of economic pressure by the U.S. to free American businessman Edmond Pope, currently in deteriorating health and being held in a Russian prison on espionage charges.

“Washington wants to turn a criminal case into a political one,” and is using “the only language it knows — the language of threats,” according to the Voice of Russia World Service, the official broadcasting service of the Russian government.

The U.S. House of Representatives may call for the use of economic measures against Russia and the State Department is considering a business travel advisory to those traveling to that nation. Moscow has reacted angrily to these possibilities, stating that in threatening these actions, the U.S. is not “showing respect for the judicial system of a sovereign nation, as is the case in the civilized world.”

The official Russian government broadcast asserted, “American authorities chose to come down on Russia with a torrent of accusations” to “exert pressure on Russia,” and engage in “another anti-Russian campaign.”

“Blackmail and threats have never cut any ice with Russia,” in the words of the broadcast, but instead lead to “a build-up of tensions in relations between Russia and the United States.” Moscow added ominously that U.S. efforts on behalf of Pope were “doing a bad service to Pope, whose future will soon be decided by a Russian court.”

Pope, 54, was arrested April 3 and remains in a Russian prison awaiting trial. He has a medical history of a rare bone cancer that, at the time of his arrest, was in remission.

Pope’s congressman, Rep. John E. Peterson, R-Pa., is “concerned and angered” by reports that Pope’s health “has deteriorated substantially.” A Russian physician has examined Pope, but all U.S. medical assistance continues to be refused.

Peterson’s legislative director, Bob Moran, told WorldNetDaily the congressman’s office still has received no word from Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite repeated requests for assistance.

According to reports, Pope shares his cell — which has one sink and one toilet — with five other prisoners.

In a statement, Peterson said, “The manner in which Ed Pope is being treated in prison is a blatant and direct violation of basic human rights. Ed has lost an estimated 40 pounds and, on several occasions, he has fainted.”

Currently there is a resolution before the International Committee of the House of Representatives to attempt to assist Pope. The resolution calls on the president of the United States to end debt relief to Russia and cease U.S. assistance for Russia’s bid for membership in the World Trade Organization, should Pope not be released.

The resolution should pass out of the committee and onto the House floor within the next two weeks, Moran said.

Moran observed that U.S. State Department involvement has grown with the increased publicity the Pope case has received, following the public appeals of the Pope family, as well as Peterson’s involvement and the observable deterioration in Pope’s health.

According to reports, there is no possibility for a jury trial for Pope and his judges are sympathetic to the security forces that arrested him.