Former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan posed for a bold selfie outside the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC, about seven weeks after his release from a Russian prison on espionage charges.
The cheeky selfie, which appears to be mocking Russia, is captioned, “International Spy Museum, Washington DC.” Posted on Whelan's X Create an account on Wednesday afternoon.
Whelan, 45, came under international scrutiny after Russian authorities arrested him on espionage charges while he was in Russia for a friend's wedding in December 2018. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison in June 2020 after a closed trial that was widely criticized by international leaders.
Whelan, who was listening to the hearing with the help of an interpreter, held up a sign denouncing the trial as a “sham.”
“This is vile, insidious, dirty Russian politics – nothing more, nothing less,” he lamented.
A Michigan security official has been jailed in Russia for more than five years and has continued to languish behind bars after other prisoners, including WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was arrested by Russian authorities after they found traces of marijuana oil in her luggage, were released.
Because Russia considered Whelan to be an American agent, the Kremlin refused to exchange him unless it received a prisoner of equal status.
Whelan was finally released and repatriated to the United States on August 1, along with Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, 32, and radio journalist Ars Kurmaseva, 47, as part of a multinational deal that is the largest prisoner swap since the Cold War.
Whelan said the family's frequent “harsh words” towards the government “helped us hold the government accountable for looking after us.”
“Paul was held hostage for 2,043 days. His case was that of a compromised American held captive as part of their corrupt plan to use a human being as a pawn to extract concessions from the Russian Federation,” the Whelans said in a statement at the time.
“Our family is grateful to the U.S. government for securing Paul's release,” the Whelans said in a statement.
Whelan was one of more than 20 prisoners released as part of a historic prisoner swap between Russia and the West.
“It didn't seem real until I flew over England,” Whelan said upon his release.
“When we got over England and looked down it all became real,” Whelan said of his first hours of freedom.
Whelan and the other prisoners were exchanged at an airport in Ankara, Turkey.
Shortly after the exchange, he, Gershkovich and Kurmasheva were photographed holding American flags.
