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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