‘We’re coming to bring you home’: US special envoy told Paul Whelan ‘don’t lose faith’
Heather Hamilton
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Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, said he spoke with Paul Whelan, a U.S. Marine who is considered to be wrongfully detained in Russia, and assured him he has not been forgotten.
The Biden administration secured the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was detained in Russia for nearly 10 months after transporting cannabis oil in her bag. Griner’s release came as part of a prisoner exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, but Whelan, who has been in a Russian prison since 2020 on espionage charges, was not included as part of the deal.
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Carstens told MSNBC that he spoke with Whelan and assured him of President Joe Biden’s intentions of getting him back home to the United States.
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“Don’t lose hope. Don’t lose faith. We’re already planning and working on bringing you home. We’re coming to bring you home,” Carstens said he told Whelan, stressing the president’s commitment. “So Paul, keep the faith. We’re coming.”
Whelan has expressed disappointment in not being part of the recent prisoner exchange.
Carstens noted that the Biden administration is meeting Monday to discuss additional efforts to free Whelan, including the possibility of new sanctions placed on Russia.
“We’re having that meeting tomorrow, and we’re going to factor in and discuss everything,” he said.
The hostage affairs envoy added that he could not share specifics about how those efforts would affect negotiations for Whelan but said the goal was to eliminate the need for hostage negotiations in the future.
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“The timeline is hard because the other side gets a vote,” Carstens said regarding when Whelan could be expected home. “But I can tell you one thing in terms of what we are doing, we are doing that tomorrow.”
Griner returned to the U.S. on Friday, landing at Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas, around 5:30 a.m. Eastern before being taken to Brooke Army Medical Center for evaluation.