The notorious arms dealer, Viktor Bout was traded with Russia in return for the US basketball star Brittney Griner on November 8, 2022. The US had been negotiating for her release since February and the swap had been proposed in July. Griner is not the only wrongly accused who was in captivity in Russia. But Paul Whelan, a US Marine veteran is also detained there.
Paul Whelan visited Russia often before he was arrested by the Russian administration. Traveling to the country so many times gave him in-depth knowledge about Russia. He was arrested by Russia’s FSB state security agency. Paul Whelan was accused of “spying” in Moscow. Here’s more about Paul Whelan and his situation.
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Paul Whelan: Ex-US Marine Jailed In Russia
Whelan joined the US Marine Reserves in 1994, before which he had been a police officer in Michigan. He had been an IT project manager for Kelly Services in the early 2000s. But he was deployed to Iraq in 2004 and 2006. Whelan also holds citizenship in four countries- the US, the UK, Canada, and the Irish Republic.
In 2008, Paul was discharged from the marine for bad conduct which includes writing bad cheques and using someone else’s social security number. He was promoted to senior manager of global security and investigation at Kelly Services in 2010. He left the company in 2016 and became the director of global security at BorgWarner.
Whelan had his first visit to Russia in 2006 and was a frequent visitor to the country since his arrest in 2018. His visits to Russia have been penned down in an article on the US Marine Corps website. At the time of arrest, Paul had been in Moscow to attend his friend’s wedding. The former US Marine is sentenced to 16 years in a penal colony on espionage charges.
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Former US Marine Expresses His Frustration
The former Marine had said that he was arrested for a crime that never occurred. “I don’t understand why I’m still sitting here,” he added. The 52-year-old was surprised that he was left out. Over a phone call, he shared his happiness in Griner’s release but was “disappointed” in nothing being done in the four years he has spent in a Russian prison.
US President Joe Biden addressed Whelan’s issue while revealing news of Griner’s release. “We never forgot about Brittney and we’ve not forgotten about Paul Whelan who has been unjustly detained in Russia for years,” Biden said.
He further added, “We brought home, Trevor Reed when we had a chance earlier this year. Sadly for totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul’s case differently than Brittney’s and while we have not yet succeeded in securing Paul’s release we are not giving up, We will never give up.”
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