Why is Paul Whelan a Prisoner in Russia?
Why is Paul Whelan a prisoner in Russia? This question has divided the world for months, and it has caused an uproar in the U.S. government. We have heard rumors of the detention, but what is actually happening to Paul Whelan? We want to know more, but what we don’t know is why the United States has apparently abandoned him in the first place.
As far as the evidence against Whelan’s capture is concerned, it is thin. Even the Russian government has barely attempted to convince American officials that Mr. Whelan was spying on Russia. He was arrested in 2018, and placed in a labor camp called IK-17, eight hours outside of Moscow. After a short time, he developed an arm injury and was moved to a hospital. His lawyers said it’s unclear where Russian agents were keeping him, but they have not told him where they’re putting him. Whether or not he is held in solitary confinement remains to be seen.
The United States government claims that Whelan was arrested for espionage, but he never admitted to any such charges. The Russians accuse him of working for the US Defense Intelligence Agency. The report states that Whelan had obtained a memory stick from a friend and thought it contained holiday photos. In reality, he hadn’t even looked at it when he was ambushed by Moscow security services. He later explained that it wouldn’t make any sense to carry out a mission with a memory stick in the digital age.
Meanwhile much of the world is upset over the huge amount of attention that WNBA star Brittney Griner is receiving over her legal issues, while Whelan is largely ignored by the Biden Administration. It gives the impression the government is only interested in celebrities.
