Paul Whelan’s brother has confirmed the American, who was found guilty of espionage, gave “living evidence” in the phone call.
The family of Paul Whelan, the US man jailed in Russia on espionage charges, have confirmed they will resume contact with them after more than a week of silence that sent shockwaves through the White House.
Whelan’s brother David said in a statement that the ex-seaman called his family on Friday for the first time since November 23.
“So the calls are like ‘evidence of life’, although nothing has been explained: when Paul went there, why, why the calls stopped, why the US embassy had to find out more about his whereabouts and the authorities of the Russian government. refused to answer , and more,” said David Whelan.
White House security spokesman John Kirby said on Friday that US embassy staff had also contacted Paul Whelan.
“I can’t go into the … specifics about his health for privacy reasons, but I can tell you that he told the authorities that he’s feeling fine,” Kirby said.
On Wednesday, Kirby said President Joe Biden’s administration was “deeply concerned” by Whelan’s silence.
Whelan is one of several US residents living in Russia. They also include US basketball star Brittney Griner.
Whelan’s family were told he had been transferred to the prison hospital, but things were not looking good. Whelan had never said he had a health problem.
In his statement on Friday, Kirby said that the US embassy officials indicated that Whelan was returned to the hospital in Mordovia prison, where he is serving a 16-year sentence.
Whelan is a former US military officer who works as a corporate security officer. According to his lawyer, Whelan was arrested in Moscow in December 2018 after being given a flash drive that contained special equipment that he did not know.
Whelan was convicted of espionage in 2020. His family maintains that he is innocent.
The US forced a prisoner swap to bring home Whelan and Griner, who is serving a nine-year sentence for drug possession after authorities found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in his bag at Moscow airport. Griner was transferred to the prison in November.
The US has reportedly offered to free Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is serving 25 years in US prison, in exchange for Griner and Whelan.
There is an example of such an exchange: In April, Russia exchanged former US Navy SEAL Trevor Reed for Russian citizen Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was serving a 20-year sentence in the US on drug charges.
On Tuesday, the media asked Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov whether the exchange would be possible by the end of the year.
“There’s always an opportunity,” he said. “Unfortunately, there have been several times when it looked like a favorable decision was about to be made, but it wasn’t.”
