‘Serious Betrayal’: Paul Whelan, U.S. Hostage in Russia, Feels ‘Abandoned’ After Constantly Being Left Behind
“The problem is, it’s my life that’s draining away while they do this. It’s been five years!”
Russia has held U.S. citizen Paul Whelan in prison for the last five years due to supposed espionage.
The BBC’s Sarah Rainsford spoke to Whelan again. This time, though, she said she had never heard him “so pessimistic or so frustrated.”
It breaks your heart:
“I know the US have all sorts of proposals, but it’s not what the Russians want. So they go back and forth, like throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks.
“The problem is, it’s my life that’s draining away while they do this. It’s been five years!”
After his trial, Mr Whelan says Russia wanted to send him home in return for the convicted arms dealer, Viktor Bout. But Donald Trump was US president then, and “kept saying no.”
Two years later, Viktor Bout was swapped for the American basketball star, Brittney Griner, who’d pleaded guilty to possessing vape cannisters with cannabis oil.
Paul Whelan was left behind.“It’s extremely stressful knowing that I could have been home years ago,” he told me. “It’s extremely frustrating to know that they’ve made these mistakes. They’ve basically abandoned me here.”
The U.S. coordinated two prisoner swaps last year, including for WNBA player Brittney Griner, but has not gone for Whelan.
From what I can recall, Griner committed a crime in Russia. Not one that deserved the treatment, but Whelan hasn’t done anything along with two other hostages.
Russia has held Alsu Kurmasheva, a U.S.-Russian citizen and journalist, since October for allegedly spreading “fake news” about Russia’s military.
Russia has held Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich since March on espionage charges.
But again…Whelan has been there since 2018.
Whelan has Canadian, Irish, U.S., and U.K. citizenship.
At the time of his arrest, Whelan worked at BorgWarner as the director of global security and investigations. The auto parts manufacturer is headquartered in Michigan. The work and previous employment at Kelly Services gave him contacts within the U.S. government.
Whelan was in Russia for the wedding of a former Marine. He arrived in Moscow on December 22 and wanted to leave on January 6:
On 28 December, however, he was arrested by Russia’s FSB state security agency, which claimed he had been “caught spying” in Moscow. At the time, there were uncorroborated reports he had been caught receiving a digital storage device containing a list of intelligence officials.
There was also speculation over other possible motives for the arrest – including a suggestion Mr Whelan was detained so he could be exchanged with Maria Butina, a Russian gun rights activist, who was jailed in the US in December 2018. She was deported back to Russia in October 2019.
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Comments
Whelan needs to transition gender and race to move up on list of priorities of the biden admin?
Please get over this. It is getting old, and has nothing to do with the LI post. It just shows your personal insecurities about gender and race. I hope you seek treatment.
Is that you brittney?
You’re misguided. If you can’t acknowledge the simple and plain reality that it’s well-documented that the vile Dhimmi-crats, broadly, and, the Biden Administration, specifically, exert extra effort in going to bat — policy-wise and in diplomacy — for homosexuals, the “transgendered” and members of favored racial classes, you’re either naive, myopic, dishonest, or, a combination thereof.
You wrote what I was thinking. Projection and all that.
He beat me to it, too. (I was out shopping today.)
Notice JR doesn’t say this is untrue but that you must get over it.
Liberalism is a mental health disorder.
Keep up the good posts. There are a few strident, sexual perverts on here who rush in to condemn any criticism of their twisted, unnatural satanic ways.
I wasn’t being moralistic about it. Its just obvious that brittney griner was important to a voter constituency that biden felt he needs. Whelan not so much.
If he was a Muslim terrorist, the Biden regime would be falling all over itself trying to pay ransom for him.
Or played basketball.
They have also been holding a journalist for over 200 days
It’s infuriating that the POS, narcissistic, ingrate and useless basketball player was the person that the dotard Biden Administration went to bat for — someone who had bashed the U.S., repeatedly, and, was stupid enough to bring cannibidiol oil or a similar product, into Russia.
Whelan should have been freed, and, Griner left to rot and ponder her anti-Americanism.
Brittney griner should have been happy in russian prison, she never had to hear the US national anthem again.
It is so obvious why he is not being brought home. An election is coming up and he represents white, male, straight, Christian, Marine, and none of that group is going to vote for Biden. If he could only come out, convert to Islam, and get a sex change he may have a chance in 2024.
I think most Americans that know what is going on feel the same way!
He’s a spook and got caught. His work and service history is odd.
Discharged from the Marines for bad conduct related to larceny. Hired as security for various international firms. He was vetting potential hires at Kelly Services. This is a man charged with check fraud working as a security investigator for global firms.
And he just happens to wander around Russia a lot. And then, surprise of surprises, he’s got an old Marine pal getting married in Russia.
Watch this clip from Dr. Zhivago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozpct8zUA_U
You also get your info about hamas from tiktok?
GFY noob.
You sound smart.
Let this be a lesson for those considering a trip to Russia, or Washington DC for that matter.