As Brittney Griner's wife gets Biden call, Paul Whelan's family has to keep waiting

When will it be Paul Whelan's turn for a presidential phone call, letter or a prisoner exchange?

That's what his family would like to know as the Michigan businessman's detention in Russia stretches beyond 3½ years and as they watch other families whose loved ones also are imprisoned there get conversations with the president and, in the case of Trevor Reed, brought home to safety in a prisoner swap.

"It is hard to convey how corrosive being a member of a wrongful detainee's family can be," said Whelan's twin brother, David Whelan. "A call from anyone in the government to show that they care can be hugely beneficial to morale, to help you keep at your advocacy and support for your loved one. It can reassure you that your loved one has not, in fact, been forgotten. And no call could matter more than one from the president."

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Whelan — who lived in Novi and was the head of global security for Auburn Hills-based auto supplier BorgWarner when he was arrested in December 2018 on spying charges —  has been detained the longest of the three high-profile Americans the U.S. government says were wrongly imprisoned in Russia.

Reed, like Whelan, is a former U.S. Marine. He was arrested in the summer of 2019 in Russia, accused of assaulting an officer following a night of heavy drinking. Reed denied the claims but was sentenced to nine years in prison. Soon after Reed's family spoke with President Joe Biden in late March, he was swapped for convicted Russian drug trafficker Konstantin Yaroshenko in a surprise prisoner exchange.

WNBA star Brittney Griner was arrested in February and pleaded guilty Thursday to drug charges. She told the court she didn't intend to break the law when she was caught with vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage at an airport in Moscow, Reuters reported.

Griner's wife, Cherelle Griner, spoke to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday and got reassurances from them that Brittney Griner's case remains a priority.

Though the Whelan family has repeatedly asked for a similar conversation with the president, it has never happened, said Whelan's sister, Elizabeth Whelan.

While it was a "huge win" for the Griner family to speak with Biden, Elizabeth Whelan said it also was personally upsetting considering how long she has tried to schedule a conversation with the president about her brother.

"What got under my skin was the uneven nature of the attention from the White House to wrongful detainee families," she told the Free Press. "Who thought it was a good idea to make one call and not two? How did they think we would react, for goodness' sake?"

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Elizabeth Whelan said she has asked four times to meet with Biden, and also has emailed the president's chief of staff to request a meeting. When Donald Trump was president, she also sent letters to him, asking for a conversation about Paul's imprisonment.

But, she said, she has "not had outreach at that level in any administration to date."

"I have not made that a very public demand because really, I would rather see a functioning process that saw my brother home ASAP and allowed us to celebrate his homecoming with the president rather than taking up Biden's valuable time with individual pleas. But is that what it takes to get Paul home?" Elizabeth Whelan asked.

"I don't believe it is. I have faith that the (U.S. government) and this administration is working to bring our brother home to Michigan. And I continue to point out to those who will listen that it's Russia, not Biden, who is holding Paul hostage and not letting him go."

Paul Whelan, now 52, was arrested and charged with espionage while he was in Moscow for the wedding of a friend. The Russian government alleged he was caught "red-handed" in his hotel with a USB drive containing classified information.

Whelan and his family insist he was set up and has been wrongly detained since. Whelan was convicted in a closed-door court hearing and sentenced to 16 years in a labor camp. He now is being held at IK-17 in the Republic of Mordovia, where his brother says he continues to languish.

"He's lost about 20% of the weight he was in December 2018," David Whelan told the Free Press. He also underwent surgery to repair a hernia while detained in Russia, and spends most of his days sewing buttonholes on prison uniforms.

Elizabeth Whelan said her brother's health has suffered the effects of prolonged detention at the prison camp and has been "up and down recently."

"He is being denied basic medicines that we sent to him, which doesn't help matters, and we hope that will be resolved soon and that his core mental resilience will keep him going through this ordeal," she said. "He is fighting on, and we hope that the (U.S. government) is doing the same on his behalf."

When the Biden administration negotiated the prisoner exchange for Reed, but did not include Whelan in the swap, the family was devastated.

David Whelan wrote at the time: "Trevor is free. Paul remains a hostage. You can imagine that today is one of varied emotions in our family. ... Is President Biden's failure to bring Paul home an admission that some cases are too hard to solve? Is the administration's piecemeal approach picking low-hanging fruit? And how does a family know that their loved one's case is too difficult, a hostage too far out of reach?"

The Free Press asked the U.S. State Department on Thursday about whether Whelan's freedom now hinges on what happens in Griner's case.

A spokesperson did not answer the question, but rather directed the Free Press to a tweet Secretary of State Antony Blinken posted Thursday, which read, in part: "We will not relent until Brittney, Paul Whelan, and other wrongfully detained Americans are reunited with their loved ones."

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Blinken spoke with the Whelan family on June 22 and David Whelan said he assured the Whelans that "all wrongful detentions remain a priority. But each case is a separate instance of injustice. And each one demands different treatment and may demand a different resolution. It may also result in the U.S. government allocating different resources, including a phone call from the president."

Added David Whelan: "That can be hard to take in as a family member. And not because you begrudge another family the resources or even their joy when their loved one is freed and yours is not. But because you wonder: Is that what makes the difference?

"In our case, was it a meeting with President Biden that meant that Trevor Reed was freed? ... If the U.S. government is inconsistent in how it allocates their resources, what is a family to do?  What does it mean when requests to meet or talk with the president are ignored?"

In an emailed statement to the Free Press, National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said Biden is concerned about Whelan's case, too.

“President Biden has been clear about the need to secure the release of Paul Whalen as soon as possible, as well as the release of Brittney Griner and other U.S. nationals who are wrongfully detained or held hostage in Russia and around the world," Watson said.

"We will continue to be in regular contact with Paul’s family, and with other families of Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad, to provide support and assistance and keep them updated on efforts to secure the release of their loved ones."

In addition, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs and White House staff spoke with Elizabeth Whelan on Wednesday afternoon and has a biweekly phone call with her to provide updates on the efforts to secure his release, an administration spokesperson told the Free Press.

She also has gotten calls from Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to offer support.

Still, Elizabeth Whelan said, until her brother is home, she won't stop asking for more.

"I have been determined not only to see my brother Paul freed and away from Russia via any means possible, but also to see a better process overall for dealing with wrongful detention," she said.

"The Biden administration has been great about communication with families on many levels, but in general, we need to know more about what is going on behind the scenes so that we are not always exploding in public! Wrongful detention is a very serious issue, and difficult to resolve. There has to be a better way for the (U.S. government) to share info so we don't have to resort to public pleas for meetings with the president.

"I want to see a system that focuses on dealing with the bad guys who are taking our citizens hostage, and bringing our loved ones home, rather than berating the president. But an uneven level of attention upsets families who are already at their wit's end, and is ultimately a distraction from dealing with the core issues of stopping this vile practice."

Contact Kristen Jordan Shamus: kshamus@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kristenshamus. 

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Brittney Griner's wife gets Biden call. Paul Whelan's family waits