Blinken had "long, frank" phone call with Paul Whelan
Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by phone with Paul Whelan, who has been detained in Russia since 2018.
Watch CBS News
Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by phone with Paul Whelan, who has been detained in Russia since 2018.
"I have been told that I won't be left behind," Whelan told CNN in a phone interview from prison.
The U.S. ambassador to Russia has visited Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan in a remote Russian prison.
Elizabeth Whelan -- the sister of Paul Whelan, an American who has been detained in Russia for more than four years -- attended the UN Security Council meeting that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov chaired on Monday.
This comes amid fears that efforts to bring him home could be diverted to deal with Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was recently wrongfully detained in Russia on espionage charges similar to Whelan.
The sister of Paul Whelan, a US citizen who is wrongfully detained in Russia, on Thursday expressed frustration at her brother's continued imprisonment in Russia and called on the White House to bring him home.
Whelan's twin brother, David Whelan, says the family does not trust that U.S. officials are doing everything that can be done to bring his brother home.
The Biden administration is marking the four-year anniversary of the detention in Russia of American businessman Paul Whelan, whose continued imprisonment is one of several major irritants in tattered relations between Washington and Moscow.
Her plane landed in San Antonio, Texas. Griner was freed from Russia in exchange for notorious international arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Moscow said at the time it wanted "a spy for a spy."
Elizabeth Whelan said she is pleased to see Brittney Griner come home and that "any wrongfully detained American that comes back from overseas is a win for America."
"How do you continue to survive ... when you know that your government has failed twice to free you from a foreign prison?" he said in a statement.
The family of an American detained in Russia for nearly four years said Thursday that the Biden administration "made the right decision" in agreeing to a prisoner exchange that freed WNBA star Brittney Griner but they are "devastated" that Paul Whelan remains behind.
After a week of silence from former Marine and Novi man Paul Whelan, his brother sets his sight on getting him home.
The Biden administration has been trying for months to negotiate the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner and another American jailed in Russia, Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan, including through a possible prisoner swap with Moscow.
Griner has been sentenced for drug possession after vape canisters containing cannabis oil were found in her luggage.
President Biden met at the White House on Friday with the families of WNBA star Brittney Griner and Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan, both of whom remain jailed in Russia.
