Washington — Nearly seven weeks after the Russians handed over Paul Whelan On a tarmac in Ankara, Turkey, the Marine veteran stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol with a message for other Americans detained overseas.
“We are coming for you,” he told reporters Tuesday night after meeting with lawmakers. “It may take time, but we are coming.”
Whelan said he has spoken with lawmakers about how the government can better support inmates after they are released.
“We talked about how the experience of the next person could be improved,” he said. “What the government could do for the next person who is held hostage and comes home – the care and support that other people might need, particularly those who are in a worse situation. There are people coming back after living in the dirt with no shoes for three years, people who have been locked up in atrocious conditions for 20 years. They need support.”
CBS News
The United States secured Whelan’s release in August in one of the largest prisoner swaps since the end of the Cold War. The complex deal was the result of months of delicate negotiations between the United States, Russia, Germany, Slovenia, Poland and Norway.
Under the deal, Russia released 16 prisoners while Western countries freed eight Russians. Whelan was released alongside Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Russian-American radio journalist Alsu Kurmasheva and Vladimir Kara-Murza, a U.S. green card holder and Kremlin critic.
Whelan, who was the longest-serving American detainee in Russia, was arrested in December 2018 while traveling to the country to attend a friend’s wedding. He was convicted of espionage in a secret trial and sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020.
Whelan, his family and the U.S. government vehemently denied that he was a spy and accused Russia of using him as a political pawn. The U.S. government considered him wrongly detaineda rare designation that helped mobilize more government resources to secure his release.
But a deal to secure his release has long been elusive. He remained behind bars while Russia freed a Marine veteran Trevor Reed and women’s basketball star Brittney Griner — both detained after Whelan’s arrest — as part of prisoner swaps with the United States
The United States said it pushed for him to be included in both swaps, but Russia refused. That led Whelan to advocate for his own release from a remote prison camp, calling government officials and journalists to ensure he was not forgotten.
When the plane carrying Whelan, Gershkovish and Kurmasheva landed in Maryland on August 1, Whelan was the first to disembark. greeted by President Biden, who presented Whelan with his American flag pin, and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Whether he liked it or not, he changed the world,” Rep. Haley Stevens, a Michigan Democrat, told reporters Tuesday.
Whelan’s case and his family’s continued pressure on the U.S. government have brought increased attention to cases of Americans wrongfully detained by foreign governments.
Haley said Whelan reminds other Americans considering traveling to Russia that they have “a target on their backs.”
Whelan said it’s been an adjustment getting acclimated to life in the United States, especially learning about the latest technology like his iPhone 15.
“I was in a very remote part of Russia,” he said. “We didn’t have much. The conditions were bad. The Russians said the bad conditions were part of the punishment. And to come back and see this kind of thing today is a bit of a shock, but it’s a good shock.”
