Paul Whelan, a former US Marine, marked a grim milestone on Thursday as he completed five years in detention in Russia. Whelan, who was arrested in Moscow on December 28, 2018, and imprisoned on espionage charges that he vehemently denies, has been serving a 16-year sentence at a remote prison camp in Mordovia. It has been a nightmarish experience for him, and he had hoped he would not reach this milestone.
Whelan has had a half-dozen phone conversations with CNN since his detention. During these conversations, he has expressed confidence that the US government is working to secure his release but has also conveyed immense frustration that their efforts have not yielded success. He has asked President Biden to do “whatever needs to be done” to bring him home and resolve his case.
In recent phone calls, Whelan has voiced exasperation that the US claims his case is “a priority” but has not found a way to bring him home. He has cited the release of two other Americans from Russia in a prisoner swap last year and expressed a sense of abandonment and fear that he will be left behind.
“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?” Whelan told CNN in late November.
Whelan has also increasingly expressed fear for his safety. He told CNN last week that an official at the prison camp was targeting him after he was assaulted by another prisoner. Whelan insisted that he was innocent of the charges against him and emphasized that he would never have visited Moscow if he had known that it would lead to his detention.
Whelan’s detention is a stark reminder of the often-fraught relationship between the US and Russia. While the US government has consistently claimed that it is committed to securing his release, it is unclear when and how this will happen. Meanwhile, Whelan remains in a remote prison camp, doing manual labor at the prison’s clothing factory, and wondering when he will finally be able to go home.
