President Biden met with Paul Whelan's sister on Wednesday after Russia rejected the latest deal to release and bring the former U.S. Marine home.
The White House said in a statement that Biden met privately with Elizabeth Whelan to discuss the administration's efforts to bring his brother home. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was also present.
“Immediately after the meeting, the President called Paul Whelan's parents,” the White House said in a statement.
“Since taking office, the President has personally committed to efforts to secure the release of hostages and unjustly held Americans around the world, including Paul Whelan and fellow American Evan Gershkovich. “The statement added.
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Paul Whelan (right) waits for sentencing in a defendant's cage in Moscow on June 15, 2020. (Kiril Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images)
According to CBS News, in early December, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters that the United States had made “a new and significant offer to secure the release of Paul and Evan,” but that “the offer was It was rejected by.”
The State Department noted that December 28, 2023 will mark five years since Whelan was wrongfully detained by Russian authorities.
Paul Whelan hears his sentence in a courtroom at the Moscow City Court on June 15, 2020 in Moscow. (Sofia Sandurskaya, Moscow Press Photo, via AP, File)
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Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed calls for the release of Mr. Whelan and Wall Street Journal reporter Mr. Gershkovych at his annual press conference in Moscow last month.
“With regard to the possibility of extradition of these nationals, [Gershkovich and Paul Whelan] To their homeland…why don't they go back to their homeland? So why not commit crimes on the territory of the Russian Federation?'' he said, according to Reuters.. “But this is all rhetoric. It does not mean that we will refuse to return it. We did not refuse it. We want to reach agreements, and these agreements are mutually acceptable and mutually beneficial It has to be suitable. We are in contact with our partners in the United States. “There is an ongoing dialogue on this issue. It is not easy. I won't go into details right now, but… there are solutions. “We hope that we can find a solution. But again, the American side has to listen to us and make the appropriate decision that suits the Russian side.”
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovitch stands inside a glass cage in a courtroom at the Moscow City Court on Thursday, December 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov also reportedly blamed the White House for apparent leaks to the US media, saying the reports were hampering negotiations.
Whelan, a corporate security executive and former U.S. Marine from Michigan, has been imprisoned in Russia since his arrest in December 2018 on espionage-related charges, which are disputed between him and the U.S. government. ing. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison. In November, Whelan's family said he was attacked by his fellow prisoners on a production line at the labor camp.
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Gershkovych, 32, was detained in March 2023 while on a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg, a Russian city about 1,200 miles east of Moscow. He was charged with espionage and has been in custody ever since. Last month, a Moscow court again rejected his appeal for pre-trial release, extending his detention until at least January 30, 2024.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
