WASHINGTON Dec 28 US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to the Fourth On the anniversary of the detention of American Paul Whelan in Russia, he promised that Washington would not stop seeking the return of his compatriot to his homeland.
The State Department head's published statement notes that Wednesday marks 4 years since Whelan's arrest. «His detention remains unacceptable and we continue to press for his immediate release at every opportunity,» Blinken said.
«Our efforts to free Paul will not stop until he returns home,» he added. Blinken believes Whelan was put on a «secret trial» in Russia and sentenced to prison on the basis of «secret evidence» of guilt.
For his part, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan issued a separate statement in which he stressed that the administration will not relax its efforts until «the Americans celebrate Whelan's return to their homeland.»< br>«Paul and the Whelan family recently showed the entire country what true solidarity is while celebrating the return of our compatriot … I am grateful to the Whelan family for their cooperation, and we continue to seek his reunification with his relatives,» said Sullivan, in whose opinion the Russian side refers to the convict an American as a bargaining chip.
Whelan was detained in Moscow on December 28, 2018, during what the FSB reported was a spy operation. The defense claims that the American was the victim of a provocation: he was given a flash card, on which he allegedly expected to see a photo from a tourist trip to Sergiev Posad. The defendant himself in the last word said that he was not engaged in espionage. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison and sent to serve his sentence in a colony in Mordovia.
Whelan and his family are counting on him to return to the US on an exchange, but he was not included in the exchange of Russian Viktor Bout for American basketball player Brittney Griner, which took place earlier in December.