"They've left me behind," American Paul Whelan says from Russian prison after failed bid to secure release
"They've left me behind," American Paul Whelan says from Russian prison after failed bid to secure release
American Paul Whelan, imprisoned in Russia for 5 years, says it's "unfathomable to me that they've left me behind."
Russia is a terrorist state. You cant negotiate with them. This is the facts of today.
Except they did do just that for Brittney Griner.
Brittney Griner was a celebrity stuck in a political dispute, Whelan is a totally different case. I don't think he was spying for the CIA, but he was up to some pretty sketchy stuff, and he has an even sketchier past.
He's claimed to work as a police officer in multiple places that say they have no record of him, or that he only worked there for a short time. He was court marshalled for larceny and given a bad conduct discharge. Even after his discharge he was hired as head of security for a global firm that did business in Russia. Even ignoring the fact that he holds like 4 different citizenships, just the information that he has provided himself is super sketchy.
I wouldn't be in any rush to to spend political capital on this dude either.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Gerschkovich is still awaiting a trial, but Whelan, who was arrested on similar charges in 2018 while attending a friend's wedding, was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020.
In Washington, Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged the families of Americans who are being detained or held hostage to not give up hope.
Speaking Tuesday at a regular press briefing at the State Department, spokesperson Mathew Miller reiterated that Russia had rejected "significant proposals" for the two men's release, "one as recently as a few weeks ago.
According to CBS Detroit, Whelan's brother David said in an email earlier this month that the White House was telling the family Paul's case remained a top priority, but that he was unsure what that meant anymore.
"It has taken nearly twelve months for the U.S. to gather its resources and make a singular offer for Paul's freedom," David Whelan said in the email.
The U.S. has negotiated prisoner swaps with Russia in the past, including the high-profile 2022 deal that saw basketball star Brittney Griner freed by Moscow in exchange for the U.S. releasing long-jailed arms dealer Viktor Bout, whose illicit deeds earned him the nickname,"the Merchant of Death."
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He is accused of reporting the truth within the borders of fascist Russia.
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Sorry bro, you need to be a celebrity to get special treatment.