Paul Whelan in photo provided by his family on January 1, 2019 - Photo by CBS News
WASHINGTON DC (WSAU) – Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, stated on Thursday that Moscow and the US are in discussions on a deal that would bring American prisoners Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich home.
According to the New York Post, Putin stated that the goal is “finding a solution,” although it’s “not easy.” The Biden Administration recently offered to secure the two men’s release and stated that Russia had rejected it without offering details.
“We have contacts on this matter with our American partners; there’s a dialogue on this issue. It’s not easy; I won’t go into details right now. But in general, it seems to me that we’re speaking a language each of us understands,” Putin said. “I hope we will find a solution. But, I repeat, the American side must hear us and make a decision that will satisfy the Russian side as well.”
Whelan is a Michigan-born corporate security professional and former U.S. Marine who was arrested in December 2018 on allegations connected to espionage, which he and the US government both deny. Since then, he has been imprisoned in Russia. He received a 16-year prison sentence.
“For nearly five years, I’ve been told that my release was a priority. I was told that everyone was doing everything they could to secure my release. In my mind, that has not been done at all. I’ve been promised that the United States is coming for me. I hope that happens before it’s too late,” Whelan said in a statement released last week by his family.
While on a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg, a Russian city located east of Moscow, Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich was arrested in March. The Russian Federal Security Service accused him of espionage, claiming that the reporter had “collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex, acting on the instructions of the American side.”
The Post reported that the claims have been refuted by Gershkovich and the Journal, and the US government says he is being illegally prosecuted.
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