Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who was arrested for alleged spying, listens to the verdict in a courtroom at the Moscow City Court in Moscow, Russia, June 15, 2020. (Sofia Sandurskaya, Moscow News Agency photo via AP)
The family of Paul Whelan published a statement on Thursday acknowledging the release of the former U.S. Marine.
“Paul Whelan is free. Our family is grateful to the United States government for making Paul’s freedom a reality,” the statement reads. “We’d like to thank President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, and National Security Advisor Sullivan for their engagement with the Russian Federation to create the environment where Paul’s freedom became a possibility.”
The family noted that Whelan has been in Russian custody for 2,043 days.
Whelan had been wrongfully detained by Russian authorities for more than five years, according to the U.S. State Department. His release is part of a massive swap of political prisoners and journalists involving the United States and Germany.
Whelan, a corporate security executive from Michigan and former U.S. Marine, has been jailed in Russia since his December 2018 arrest on espionage-related charges that both he and the U.S. government dispute. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
“His case was that of an American in peril, held by the Russian Federation as part of their blighted initiative to use humans as pawns to extract concessions,” the family said.
The full statement can be read here.
Emma Tucker, editor-in-chief of The Wall Street Journa, speaks at the Digital Life Design (DLD) innovation conference. Photo: Matthias Balk/dpa (Photo by Matthias Balk/picture alliance via Getty Images)
The Wall Street Journal published a letter reacting to the release of American journalist Evan Gershkovich on Thursday.
“Today is a joyous day for the safe return of our colleague Evan Gershkovich, who left a Russian aircraft moments ago in Turkey’s capital, Ankara, as part of a prisoner swap with Russia,” the letter, written by editor-in-chief Emma Tucker, reads.
“That it was done in a trade for Russian operatives guilty of serious crimes was predictable as the only solution given President Putin’s cynicism,” it continues. “We are grateful to President Biden and his administration for working with persistence and determination to bring Evan home rather than see him shipped off to a Russian work camp for a crime he didn’t commit.”
Gershkovich, 32, was arrested on March 29, 2023, while reporting on a trip to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg and accused of espionage.
The Biden administration declared him “wrongfully detained” and The Wall Street Journal and U.S. government both emphatically denied the charges, calling them absurd on their face.
“All those who spoke up for Evan and worked for his release—the U.S. and allied governments, Congress, the media industry, readers of the Journal, supporters of the free press, opponents of arbitrary detention, those moved by the plight of a young American journalist behind bars—can know that their support made a huge difference and is greatly, greatly appreciated,” Tucker said in her letter.
The full statement can be read here.
Wall Street Journal leaders have said the “sham conviction” of Evan Gershkovich was a disgrace.(NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/AFP via Getty Images)
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is free, according to the Wall Street Journal. Gershkovich, American veteran Paul Whelan and others are expected to be in U.S. custody soon as part of a massive swap of political prisoners involving the United States and Russia, a senior administration official confirmed to Fox News on Thursday morning.
Gershkovich, 32, was arrested on March 29, 2023, while reporting on a trip to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg and accused of espionage. The Biden administration declared him “wrongfully detained” and The Wall Street Journal and U.S. government both emphatically denied the charges, calling them absurd on their face.
Whelan had languished in Russian custody for years.
A well-placed source told Fox News that Turkish intelligence officials played a key role in mediating the prisoner swap.
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands in a glass cage in a courtroom in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024.(AP)
President Biden has called the prisoner swap deal with Russia Thursday that secured the release of The Wall Street Journal’s Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan and others a “feat of diplomacy.”
“Today, three American citizens and one American green-card holder who were unjustly imprisoned in Russia are finally coming home: Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva, and Vladimir Kara-Murza,” he said in a statement.
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