On Wednesday, the fourth anniversary of Paul Whelan's wrongful detention in Russia, the Biden administration reaffirmed its commitment to get him out of jail.
Whelan's family expressed hope that he wouldn't have to spend another year in a Russian prison. Jake Sullivan, who is President Joe Biden's national security adviser, said, "The President and I have told the Whelan family we will not stop, give up, or stop so that all Americans can celebrate Paul's come back."
Biden Administration's Remarks
In December 2018, Whelan was arrested in Moscow on espionage charges that he has strongly denied. He will start his 16-year prison term in June 2020. This past year, US officials were unable to get his release through prisoner swaps that led to the release of Trevor Reed in April and Brittney Griner in mid-December.
Both of those people were wrongfully detained in Russia. After Griner was released, many US officials said that the Russians wouldn't make a deal for Whelan, and CNN said that Moscow repeatedly asked for a convicted murderer in German custody in exchange for the ex-Marine.
In the hours after Griner's release, Whelan called CNN from his remote prison colony and said that he hoped Biden and his administration would do everything they could to get him home, no matter how much it might cost.
Elizabeth Whelan, Whelan's sister, told CNN that it's a sign of weakness that the Russian government keeps using hostage diplomacy by not releasing her brother, who was arrested and sentenced on charges they made up. In a statement on Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that getting Whelan's release is still the administration's top priority.
US officials wanted Whelan to be part of a prisoner swap earlier this month in which they sent Brittney Griner to Russia in exchange for Viktor Bout, who was convicted of being an arms dealer. The administration thinks that Whelan, like Griner, was held against his will.
Paul Whelan's 4th-Year Detention in Russia
Blinken said that Whelan and his family are going through an unimaginable ordeal, and he again criticized the American's conviction, which was based on secret evidence, and 16-year prison sentence.
Whelan, a security manager for a company in Michigan, is in jail in Russia on espionage charges that his family and the US government say are not true. US officials said that Russia wouldn't consider including Whelan in the Griner deal. They said that Russia said it was either Whelan or nothing in the deal.
The Whelan family agreed with the trade that got Griner out of jail, but they were worried that Whelan wouldn't be freed for years, as per VOA News.
Paul Whelan, who is 52, was given a sentence through 2020. David Whelan said in a statement on Wednesday, "Today is the 1,461st day that the Russian Federation has kept Paul as a prisoner. Four years ago today, Russian authorities set a trap for him. How do you mark such a terrible point in time when there is no end in sight?"
He said that the anniversary is both terrible and boring. It's just another day that Paul has to suffer in a Russian labor camp because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, Stripes reported.
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