Paul Whelan’s sister, a Martha’s Vineyard resident, says she is ‘elated’ by Brittney Griner’s release
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The night before WNBA star Brittney Griner was freed from a Russian prison in exchange for the release of a notorious arms dealer, the older sister of another American detainee in Russia received a visit from an official with the Biden administration at her home on Martha’s Vineyard.
Elizabeth Whelan said the official came Wednesday night to tell her in person about the exchange for Griner that would be announced Thursday, and that it would not include her younger brother, 52-year-old Paul Whelan, who’s been imprisoned in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges that US officials have said are bogus.
The warning was welcome, Elizabeth Whelan said.
“When Trevor Reed was released earlier this year and Paul was left behind, we got about a half-hour notice, and then it was chaos,” she said in an interview Thursday night by telephone from her home on Chappaquiddick Island. “We weren’t even processing it and our emotions were playing out in the media and it was just so traumatic.”
Elizabeth Whelan, 60, said she appreciated the notice, even if it didn’t contain all of the news she was hoping for. Nevertheless, Whelan said she was happy about Griner’s release.
“Everybody wants their loved one home first, but we all cheer and celebrate anybody coming home,” she said. “Brittney [coming home] is definitely a huge win. My heart broke for her when she was originally arrested and it became obvious the Russians were going to use her as a pawn.”
“The fact that it’s one less person being held in Russia, I’m just elated about that,” she added. “I’m not elated that Paul is still there. Obviously, I would have wanted both of them home, but, you know, it is what it is.”
Paul Whelan, a former US Marine who later worked as a corporate security executive, was arrested in a Moscow hotel and sentenced in June 2020 to 16 years in prison for allegedly holding “state secrets” on a flash drive. Whelan has said that he was in Russia for a wedding, the flash drive was given to him by another person, and that he believed it contained holiday photos.
President Biden announced Griner’s release in a statement delivered at the White House on Thursday and said the US government will continue to try to reunite Paul Whelan with his family.
“Sadly, for totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul’s case differently than Brittney’s,” Biden said. “And while we have not yet succeeded at securing Paul’s release, we are not giving up. We will never give up.”
Biden called Elizabeth Whelan on Thursday afternoon, just a couple hours after she spoke with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the phone, she said.
She and Biden previously spoke on the phone in July and met in person at the White House in September while she was in Washington, D.C., to participate in a panel discussion on hostages and detainees, she said.
Elizabeth Whelan said she was not surprised to hear that Russia would not allow more than one prisoner to be released.
“They’re not going to hand [Biden] the win of bringing home two Americans,” she said. “Although I want this administration to figure out a way to stop [Russia] from behaving this way and make sure we continue to work hard to bring Paul home, I also know they’ve been working hard to try this and I know about some of the trouble they’ve been facing.”
Elizabeth Whelan says her brother has limited communication from the facility he’s been held in but he has been allowed to phone his elderly parents. She said their mother is 83 and their father recently turned 85.
“They’re in good health and everything, but who knows how long this is going to continue,” she said.
Material from Globe wire services was used in this report.