Paul Whelan feels "failed" after 5 years in Russian detention
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Paul Whelan stands inside a defendants' cage as he waits to hear his verdict in Moscow on June 15, 2020. Photo: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images
American Paul Whelan said he is concerned that "diplomatic efforts have failed" and "not enough has been done at the very top" to ensure his release from a Russian prison.
The big picture: The former American Marine was arrested on Dec. 28., 2018, on espionage charges that the U.S. State Department has denounced as baseless. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020.
- Russia's President Vladimir Putin said earlier this month that American and Russian officials were in talks about releasing Whelan and Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich, both of whom the U.S. says are being wrongfully detained.
Driving the news: During phone interviews with WTOP, Whelan said Congress and consulate staff had been "quite supportive" and that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan "care and are engaged."
- President Biden is "the guy that made the decision to leave me behind twice. He's the man that can bring me home," he said.
- "I've been told that everyone is doing all they can, that my release is a top priority, promises have been made, and I need everyone who has made those promises to now man up and honor them."
Context: Last December, WNBA star Brittney Griner was freed in a prisoner swap after almost a year of being incarcerated.
- Trevor Reed, a former U.S. Marine, had been freed from a Russian prison in a prisoner swap in April 2022.
- The U.S. State Department said in a statement on Wednesday that "not a day goes by without intensive U.S. Government efforts to bring Paul home" and officials will not rest until he is "safely back with his family where he belongs."
Of note: Whelan cited during recent phone interviews with CNN the release of Griner and Reed as a reason for why he feels abandoned, the network reported on Thursday.
- "I am wondering what they're going to do next. If there's no diplomatic solution, what comes next? What are they prepared to do to honor that promise to get me home?" he said from a remote prison camp in Mordovia, per CNN.
What they're saying: When asked to respond to Whelan's comments, the State Department referred Axios to remarks that Blinken gave last week in which he said U.S. officials were "very actively working on" enabling the release of the former Marine and Gershkovich.
- "We'll leave no stone unturned to see if we can't find the right way to get them home and to get them home as soon as possible," he added. "It's very much a focus of our actions, activities."
- Representatives for the White House National Security Council did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.
Go deeper: U.S. ambassador visits Paul Whelan in Russian penal colony
