Former US Marine Paul Whelan, imprisoned in Russia since 2018 on espionage charges, feels “let down” by the United States, which he accuses of “treason” for not supporting him, in an interview published by the BBC on Wednesday have returned.
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The 53-year-old man, a former Marine Corps corporal, is serving a 16-year prison sentence in a case that the subject and Washington believe is trumped up.
At the beginning of December, the US State Department assured that it had made a “consistent” proposal to Moscow for his release, but it was rejected.
“I know the United States is making all sorts of proposals, but this is not what the Russians want. So they go back and forth like throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks,” Whelan told the BBC. “The problem is that my life is slipping away while they do this. It’s been five years!”
The US and Russia accuse each other of detaining their nationals for political reasons. Several prisoner exchanges have taken place in recent years, but Paul Whelan was never involved in them.
The ex-Marine believes he “could have been back home years ago” and that his file “ends up at the bottom of the pile every time.” “They just let me down,” he told the BBC.
The prisoner, who also holds British, Irish and Canadian citizenship, spends his days sewing clothes and hats in a prison factory. He said it was -15 degrees inside the prison, where he was recently attacked by a fellow inmate.
Paul Whelan was a security guard for an American group selling car parts when he was arrested in Moscow in December 2018.
During his major annual news conference in mid-December, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he “hopes” to reach an agreement with the United States over Americans Paul Whelan and journalist Evan Gershkovich imprisoned in Russia.
“These agreements must be mutually acceptable and suitable for both sides,” he emphasized, referring to contacts with the United States in this regard.