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The White House insisted Wednesday the US has not given up the fight to bring former Marine Paul Whelan home from Russian custody as the Biden administration marked the fourth anniversary of his detention on trumped-up spying charges.
“Today marks four years of wrongful detention in Russia for American Paul Whelan and, as the President and I have told the Whelan family, we will not stop, we will not relent, we will not cease until all Americans can celebrate Paul’s return,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement.
Whelan, 52, was sentenced to 16 years of hard labor in 2020 after a Russian court found him guilty of espionage — a claim both Whelan and the US government continue to deny. Whelan had traveled to Russia for a wedding when he was “wrongfully detained,” according to the White House.
