Paul Whelan's sister, Brittney Griner's wife to meet President Biden
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After more than three years of trying to schedule a face-to-face meeting, Paul Whelan’s sister will finally meet President Joe Biden on Friday to discuss efforts to free the Michigan businessman who has been held in the Russian prison system since December 2018.
Elizabeth Whelan will meet the president at the White House along with Cherelle Griner, the wife of WNBA star Brittney Griner, another U.S. citizen the Biden administration has declared wrongfully detained in Russia.
"The president wanted to make sure that their families understood that they were front of mind and that his team was working tirelessly every day to get Brittney and Paul home safely,” said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre during a Thursday afternoon news conference.
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"We believe that Russia is wrongfully detaining Brittany and Paul under intolerable circumstances. We have been directly engaged with the Russian government through appropriate channels. We made a significant offer a couple of months ago through the same channels we used for Trevor Reed. We have followed up on that offer repeatedly and will continue to pursue every avenue to bring them home safely."
The U.S. and Russian governments agreed to a prisoner exchange in April that traded Reed, a former Marine, for convicted Russian drug trafficker Konstantin Yaroshenko — but left Whelan behind at the IK-17 prison camp in the Republic of Mordovia, about an eight-hour drive southeast of Moscow.
David Whelan told the Free Press late Thursday that his sister's meeting with Biden "is a kindness to our family," though, "I don't think it means anything has changed in regard to Paul's freedom. It reflects President Biden's continued concern about Paul's case."
Biden called Elizabeth Whelan in July under increasing pressure to affirm his commitment to bringing her brother home. The Whelan family spoke publicly about being spurned by the White House while the families of other Americans imprisoned in Russia had gotten presidential phone calls, letters and — in the case of Reed — a prisoner exchange and return to safety in the U.S.
How did Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner end up in prison in Russia?
Paul Whelan, 52, lived in Novi and worked as head of global security for Auburn Hills-based auto supplier BorgWarner before his arrest in Moscow. Whelan was a world traveler and had been to Russia several times; he holds passports in four countries — the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
In December 2018, Whelan said he traveled to Russia to attend the wedding of a friend. Russian authorities, however, allege he was caught with a USB drive containing classified information. They charged him with espionage.
Though Whelan denied the charges, he was convicted of spying in a closed-door trial in June 2020 and was sentenced to serve 16 years in a Russian labor camp.
Griner was arrested in February at an airport in a suburb of Moscow. She was traveling to Russia in the WNBA's off-season to play for UMMC Ekaterinburg in the Russian Premier League when authorities found a vape cartridge containing cannabis oil in her luggage.
Griner pleaded guilty to drug charges in July and was sentenced to nine years.
What will Biden say when he meets the Whelan, Griner families?
The Biden meeting is expected to reinforce U.S. efforts to free Whelan and Griner, Jean-Pierre said.
"While I would love to say that the purpose of this meeting is to inform the families that the Russians have accepted our offer, and we are bringing their loved ones home, that is not what we're seeing in these negotiations at this time," she said.
"The Russian should accept our offer ... today. We will keep working diligently until the day we get to share that good news."
The U.S. offer is to trade Whelan and Griner for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Dubbed "the Merchant of Death," Bout was convicted in 2011 in a New York federal court on charges of terrorism. Though he denied the allegations, prosecutors said Bout was planning to sell up to $20 million in weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, to shoot down U.S. helicopters. He was sentenced to 25 years in a federal prison.
Soon after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the prisoner exchange offer in late July, reports emerged that suggested the Russian government wasn't satisfied with the trade deal.
"There have been reports that the Russian government is concerned about the reciprocity of the offer," David Whelan, the twin brother of Paul Whelan, told journalists in an email message at the time. "This might mean that they seek an additional concession from the U.S. government. Or it might mean they are willing to relinquish one fewer concession themselves."
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'Private citizens ... do not and cannot speak for the U.S. government'
The Whelan family's meeting with Biden comes the same week as Bill Richardson, a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and governor of New Mexico, traveled to Russia in an effort to negotiate for the release of Whelan and Griner, the Associated Press reported.
But the effort is not one that the U.S. State Department supports.
"Private citizens attempting to broker a deal do not and cannot speak for the U.S. government," Jean-Pierre said. "We have warned private citizens not to travel to Russia, owing to the dangers that they would face and that the State Department's Russia travel advisory remains at level four.
"We have been in contact with Richardson Center (for Global Engagement). I'm just not going to comment on the governor's travels or the governor's activities. But again, we have been very clear about American citizens traveling to Russia."
Richardson told the Associated Press last month that he hoped to negotiate a prisoner swap that would trade Whelan and Griner for two Russians, saying the exchange should be "proportional − two for two."
David Whelan said the family hasn't heard anything about Richardson's efforts to negotiate on his brother's behalf.
"I expect the governor may be taking a risk to meet with a foreign government or sanctioned individuals in Russia, if that's what he was intending to do," David Whelan said in an email message to the Free Press.
"Paul's condition appears to be unchanged. He came back from the hospital colony at the end of August and his calls to our parents have not suggested any marked change in his situation."
Contact Kristen Jordan Shamus: kshamus@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kristenshamus.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Paul Whelan's sister to meet Biden, discuss efforts to free him
