Report: US exploring potential options to secure Paul Whelan's release from Russia

The Biden administration is aggressively looking for potential political prisoners it could offer to Russia for the release of two wrongfully detained Americans — Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, a former corporate security executive from Novi, CNN is reporting.

Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, was arrested in Moscow in December 2018 and convicted of espionage during a closed-door trial in 2020. He is currently serving a 16-year sentence at a labor camp in Russia, and still has family in Michigan, including his parents.

According to the CNN report, due to a lack of Russian political prisoners in U.S. custody, the White House is reaching out to allied countries who may be willing to engage in a larger trade package to secure Whelan, 53, and Gershkovich's freedoms. The Biden administration is also considering potential sanctions relief for Russia in exchange for the pair's return, per CNN.

Last month, the U.S. sanctioned Russia and Iran for wrongfully detaining Americans.

Gershkovich was arrested in March. In April, the Russian Federal Security Service charged him with espionage. Gershkovich, 31, covered Russia, Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations as a correspondent in the Wall Street Journal’s Moscow bureau.

The U.S. has been actively negotiating for Whelan's release since his arrest in 2018. In December, Russia rejected proposals from the U.S. to include Whelan in a deal that secured the freedom of basketball star Britney Griner, who had been arrested in Russia in February 2022. That exchange saw arms dealer Viktor Bout, nicknamed the "merchant of death," return to Russia after having been in U.S. custody since 2011.

"We’ve not forgotten about Paul Whelan," President Joe Biden said on Dec. 8, the day when Griner was returned to the U.S. "This was not a choice about which American to bring home. … Sadly, for totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul's case differently than Brittney's. ... We will never give up."

Because Whelan was accused of spying, the Russian government is treating his case differently. In April, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken requested the release of Whelan and Gershkovich during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Free Press staff writer Kristen Jordan Shamus contributed to this article with prior reporting.

Contact Arpan Lobo: alobo@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @arpanlobo.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Report: US reaching out to allied countries to free Whelan from Russia