The foreign minister of USA Anthony Blinken contacted the American ex by phone yesterday Wednesday (16/8). marine Paul Whelan, who is imprisoned in Russia.
According to the Reuters news agency citing a CNN report, the head of American diplomacy assured Whelan that Washington was making every effort to secure his release. “We’re doing everything we can to get you home as soon as possible,” Blinken reportedly told the jailed Whelan, among other things.
The former marine was arrested in 2018 in Russiawas held for 18 months in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison and in 2020 he was sentenced to 16 years in prison for espionage. Paul Whelan denied the charges, while his family pointed out that he had gone to Russia for a wedding. He himself had complained that he was injured by the prison guards in prison where he was confined awaiting trial.
The US government calls Whelan’s detention “unjustified”, saying it is politically motivated with false accusations. In May, US Ambassador to Russia Lynn Tracy visited Whelan in prison.
It should be noted that last December in the framework of a prisoner exchange agreement between Washington and Moscow Russian arms dealer Viktor Butt swapped for American basketball star Brittney Greiner.
The American women’s basketball star has been imprisoned since the first days when the war broke out in Ukraine. Basketball player sentenced to nine years in prison by Russian court for cannabis smuggling.
In fact, then the American president published the touching moment he informed the basketball player’s wife, who was in the White House, that her beloved “landed.” While he then stated that the US will never abandon negotiations for the release of Paul Whelan from Russia. “Unfortunately, and for completely illegal reasons, Russia treats Paul’s case differently than Britney’s. And while we have yet to secure Paul’s release, we are not giving up. We will never give up,” Biden had characteristically said at the time.
Source: News Beast
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