White House: Russia Would Not Release Ex-Marine Paul Whelan in Prisoner Swap

Paul Whelan, a former U.S. marine accused of espionage and arrested in Russia, in December 2018, stands inside a defendants' cage as he waits to hear his verdict in Moscow on June 15, 2020. Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images

White House spokesman John Kirby said the Russian government would not have agreed to release former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan in a prisoner swap involving Russian nationals after Russia released WNBA star Brittney Griner in exchange for arms dealer Viktor Bout.

On Sunday morning, Kirby said that trading Whelan was “never a choice posed by the Russians” and that the Biden administration could only exchange Griner for Bout under the agreement. Whelan was detained in 2018 and was given a 16-year prison term.

“They treat Paul differently because of these sham espionage charges,” Kirby told Fox News on Sunday. “He is put in this special category by the Russians.”

Last week, Whelan told CNN via phone that he was “greatly disappointed” and said that more should be done to secure his release. He said he was pleased that Griner, who was jailed on drug possession charges, was sent back to the United States.

“I was arrested for a crime that never occurred,” he told the outlet Thursday. “I don’t understand why I’m still sitting here.”

But Kirby disputed those claims and said that “until the very end we were making efforts to try to get both of them out but there was no way to get there.”

“It was either make this deal now and at least get one of them home and keep up the efforts to get Paul home,” Kirby said.

Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth, told ABC News that his family expected that Griner could return first due to the nature of their respective cases. “We’ve always known that the Russians were treating Paul separately, and therefore, we always knew that there was a chance that this would happen, that would Brittney would be released first,” she said.

In this image made from video, WNBA star Brittney Griner sits in the plane as she flies to Abu Dhabi to be exchanged for Russian citizen Viktor Bout, in Russia, on Dec. 9, 2022. Russian Federal Security Service via AP

To secure Griner’s release, the United States agreed to release Bout, who was serving a 25-year sentence on charges that he conspired to sell tens of millions of dollars in weapons that U.S. officials said were to be used against Americans. Biden issued an executive grant of clemency to free the arms dealer from a federal prison in Illinois to enable the prisoner swap.

‘Disturbing’

Bout’s release in exchange for Griner was panned by Republicans and even some high-ranking Democrats. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, indicated that he wasn’t happy with the move.

“The Russians and other regimes that take American citizens hostage cannot pretend that there is equivalence between the Brittney Griners of the world and people like Viktor Bout, the so-called ‘Merchant of Death,'” Menendez statement. “Nothing could be further from the truth, and we cannot ignore that releasing Bout back into the world is a deeply disturbing decision.”

Former Soviet military officer and arms trafficking suspect Viktor Bout deplanes after arriving at the Westchester County Airport in White Plains, N.Y., on Nov. 16, 2010. U.S. Department of Justice via Getty Images

Menendez said that it’s time for “deep reflection” about American hostage situations. “We must try do better at encouraging American citizens against traveling to places like Russia where they are primary targets for this type of unlawful detention,” he said.

An unnamed U.S. official last week said that regarding getting Whelan home, “we will never relent until we bring Paul home, too, along with other Americans held hostage and wrongfully detained globally.”

Griner was arrested in February before she pleaded guilty in July to possessing cannabis oil but said she had no criminal intent. She was sentenced to nine years in prison in August.

Whelan has been held in Russia since December 2018, although the U.S. government also classified him as wrongfully detained. He was sentenced in 2020 to 16 years in prison.

Bout received a 25-year prison term in 2012 after he was convicted of selling arms to Colombian rebels. Moscow has been calling for his release since then, saying the conviction was politically motivated.

In an RT interview released over the weekend, Bout stated that he wished Griner luck as the two passed each other during the exchange in Abu Dhabi last week.

“I wished her good luck, she even extended her hand,” Bout told the state-run network on Saturday. “Our tradition is to wish everyone good luck and happiness.”

Asked if Griner tried to communicate with him, he said, “Yes, she did, and I felt she was very positive towards me.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.