When American basketball player Brittney Griner was released from a Russian prison on Thursday in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, questions were raised regarding the status of another American prisoner, Paul Whelan.
The former Marine was arrested in Moscow in 2019, but U.S. officials say they are still trying to get him released. However, they say he was not part of the talks for Thursday’s prisoner swap.
Who is Paul Whelan?
Paul Whelan, who is 52 years old and used to be a Marine but now works in corporate security, was found guilty of spying and is serving a 16-year sentence in a Russian prison.
Have a look at:
- Brittney Griner Was Released From a Russian Jail in a Prisoner Swap for a Convicted Arms Dealer
- Russian Court Upholds Brittney Griner’s 9-year Sentence in Prison
He is a citizen of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland. According to military records, he was kicked out of the Marines in 2008 for bad behavior. He later became the director of corporate security at BorgWarner, an auto parts company in Michigan.
So why is Whelan in Russia?
Whelan was found guilty of espionage in June 2020 and sentenced to 16 years of hard labor in a Russian prison. He said that the trial was politically motivated and made things worse between the US and Russia.
Vladimir Zherebenkov, his lawyer, said that his client got a flash drive with “state secrets” on it when he went to Russia for a wedding in 2018. Sergei Lavrov, who is Russia’s foreign minister, said that Whelan was caught “in the act.”
To those insisting trump would have brought Paul Whelan home, explain to me why trump didn’t bring Paul Whelan home.
— Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) December 8, 2022
Whelan was arrested on December 28, 2018 in a hotel in Moscow. He said that he thought the flash drive he got from a friend had holiday photos on it. Whelan, his family, and the U.S. government have all said many times that the charges against him are not true and that he was set up.
The day the verdict was announced, Whelan said he thought it was a given and shouted from a glass-enclosed area of the courtroom that Russia “feels powerless in the world, so they’re taking political hostages.”
Why was he not released?
After hearing that Griner was freed on Thursday, U.S. officials said they were sorry they hadn’t been able to free Whelan, but they said they would keep trying. President Biden said Thursday that his government hasn’t forgotten about Paul Whelan, who has been wrongfully held in Russia for years.
“We’ll keep negotiating in good faith for Paul’s release. I guarantee that. I say that to the family,” Biden told reporters at the White House. Whelan said on Thursday that he is “very disappointed” that the government hasn’t done more to get him out of jail, especially since it’s been four years since he was arrested.
“I was arrested for a crime that didn’t happen,” he told CNN over the phone from a remote Russian prison colony where he is being held. “I don’t understand why I’m still sitting here.”
Meet Brittney Griner & Marine Paul Whelan.
Both Americans.
Both were convicted in Russian courts on dubious charges.
Both serving multi-year sentences in Russian prison.
Brittney hates America
Paul served AmericaGuess which one Biden traded a terrorist to free?
Semper fi Paul pic.twitter.com/tuP1R6AZpf
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) December 8, 2022
When Griner’s release was announced, Russian lawyers for Whelan were also upset that their client wasn’t part of the swap. During the summer, there were rumors that the U.S. government was trying to trade Bout for the freedom of Griner and Whelan.
“There was a lot of speculation about this and there was hope [that] Paul and his family had hoped he would finally return home to his very elderly parents,” his lawyer Olga Karlova told The Post.
“We don’t know exactly why [he hasn’t been added], maybe because he is too valuable for the swap, and they’ve decided to hold him for longer,” she added.
A national security official said Thursday that Whelan was never really a choice for the Russians during talks about Griner’s release and that the Russians treat him “differently” because of the espionage charges against him.
Moments ago I spoke to Brittney Griner.
She is safe.
She is on a plane.
She is on her way home. pic.twitter.com/FmHgfzrcDT— President Biden (@POTUS) December 8, 2022
“This is not a situation where we had a choice of which American to bring home. It was a choice of bringing home one American, Brittney Griner, or bringing home none,” the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity on a call with reporters.
Officials have said that they are still willing to talk about Whelan’s release. This is the second time that Whelan has been left out of a prisoner swap between Russia and the United States.
This year, Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot who was convicted of drug smuggling and sentenced to 20 years in a U.S. prison, was traded for Trevor Reed, an American who had been detained in 2019.
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