WNBA star Brittney Griner was freed from Russian custody as part of a prisoner swap, but many, including Griner's family, were quick to point out another American name was not listed as part of the deal.
Paul Whelan.
Whelan is a Michigan corporate security executive jailed for nearly four years in Russia on espionage charges that his family and the U.S. government has said are baseless.
Earlier reporting had indicated Whelan was part of the U.S.' original offer to Russia, which sought both Griner and Whelan in exchange for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who was serving a 25-year sentence in the U.S. and once earned the nickname the “merchant of death.”
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Biden said the U.S. hasn't given up on Whelan and "we'll never give up" fighting to get him home.
"This was not a choice of which American to bring home," Biden said. "Sadly, for totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul's case differently than Britney's."
A former Marine who later worked as a corporate security executive, Whelan was arrested in Moscow in December 2018. His lawyer said Whelan was handed a flash drive that had classified information on it that he didn’t know about.
Whelan has been held in Russia since and was sentenced in 2020 to 16 years in prison. The U.S. government also classified him as wrongfully detained.
Whelan's brother David said in a statement he was “so glad” for Griner's release but also disappointed for his family. He credited the White House with giving the Whelan family advance notice and said he did not fault officials for making the deal.
“The Biden Administration made the right decision to bring Ms. Griner home, and to make the deal that was possible, rather than waiting for one that wasn’t going to happen,” he said.
Griner was arrested at the Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport in February when customs officials said they found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage. She pleaded guilty in July, though still faced trial because admitting guilt in Russia's judicial system does not automatically end a case.
She acknowledged in court that she possessed the canisters, but said she had no criminal intent and said their presence in her luggage was due to hasty packing.
Griner’s arrest made her the most high-profile American jailed abroad. Her status as an openly gay Black woman, locked up in a country where authorities have been hostile to the LBGTQ community, infused racial, gender and social dynamics into her legal saga and made each development a matter of international importance.
Griner's wife, Cherelle Griner, acknowledged Thursday that "today my family is whole, but as you all are aware there's so many other families who are not whole."
"[Brittney Griner] and I remain committed to the work of getting every American home, including Paul, whose family is in our hearts today as we celebrate [Brittney Griner] being home," she said.
