Whelan lands on U.S. soil

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Updated

Paul Whelan — the man with family on the Vineyard who has been held hostage by Russia for 2,043 days. — has landed on U.S. soil.

According to the White House pool report, Whelan was aboard an aircraft that touched down at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland just around midnight Thursday evening. Whelan was the first to walk off the aircraft where he was greeted by applause. He hugged both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, before embracing his sister, Edgartown artist Elizabeth Whelan.

“It feels wonderful,” Biden told the press pool after the rest of newly-freed Americans had joined their families. “It’s been a long time coming.”

The greeting at Joint Base Andrews is the latest development in what the New York Times is reporting to be the largest prisoner exchange since the Cold War. The Biden Administration negotiated the release of 16 people in the swap — including five Germans and seven Russian political prisoners. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was among the released.

News of the exchange broke on Thursday morning. President Biden, during a press conference at the White House soon after, said that Whelan, along with three other Americans had been flown from Russia to Turkey before embarking to the U.S.

“Now the brutal ordeal is over. They are free,” Biden said during the press conference. He was flanked by the families of the freed prisoners, including Elizabeth Whelan who stood by the president’s side.

Whelan has been held captive in Russia since 2018. In 2021, he was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 16 years in a maximum-security colony. He and his family, including his sister, Elizabeth Whelan, have vehemently denied the allegations.

“All have endured unimaginable suffering and uncertainty,” Biden said. “Today, their agony is over.”

Biden said that it took a collection of allies to achieve the release, including Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, and Turkey.

“Our alliances make Americans safer,” Biden said. “I will not stop working until every American wrongfully detained or held hostage around the world is reunited with their family,” Biden said.
Americans also freed included Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist and Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian opposition politician.

In exchange, Russia received Federal Security Service colonel Vadim Krasikov as well as Russians accused of cybercrimes and spying.

In a four-page statement, the Whelan family thanked the president, dozens of federal officials, friends, and diplomats and many others. “His case was that of an American in peril, held by the Russian Federation as part of their blighted initiative to use humans as pawns to extract concessions,” the Whelan family said in a statement.

But the family also noted that Whelan, while released from prison, still needs help. “Paul Whelan is not in a Russian labor colony any longer, but he is not home,” the statement said. “While Paul was wrongfully imprisoned in Russia, he lost his home. He lost his job. We are unsure how someone overcomes these losses and rejoins society after being a hostage. We are grateful for everyone’s efforts to help Paul while he was away. We hope you will continue to help him by providing Paul the space and privacy he needs as he rebuilds his life. It is Paul’s story to tell and he will tell it when he is able.” Read the full statement here.

Congressman Bill Keating, who sent letters to Russian officials advocating for Whelan’s release and who has had private phone conversations with Whelan during his detention, thanked the Biden Administration for their continued efforts to free those imprisoned. “For over five years, Paul Whelan has sat unjustly detained in a Russian cell for a crime he did not commit,” Keating said in a statement. “Five years of his life have been unjustly taken from him. Paul’s sister Elizabeth, a constituent and friend of mine, has been a relentless advocate for Paul and I have remained in constant contact with her – and him — over these five years. I called her today and expressed my joy that Paul is on his way home.”

Since news of the release broke, several dignitaries and former presidents welcomed the newly freed back.

Former President Barack Obama was among them. Over social media, he thanked Biden and Harris and the country’s allies. “It’s a tremendous diplomatic achievement, and we’re grateful that they’ll be back home with their families where they belong.”

 

42 COMMENTS

  1. That will make many of us very relieved and happy. His family of course will be overjoyed after such a long absence. I look forward to a warm welcome all around, happy to be part of that myself!

  2. Good work president Biden !
    Apparently VP harris had a lot to do with it also !
    Good for her– she’s not even the president YET
    Let’s go Kamal !
    Too bad this poor man had to suffer being arrested
    and incarcerated because we had a weak president
    who sucked up to Putin .

    • So, I had not heard that about Kamala’s involvement. Can you state your credible sources ?
      Otherwise sounds like a political statement to try to elevate her status…………

      • Eddie– I think the Russians knew that
        Kamala was going to be president soon, so they are
        “cleaning house”.
        So of course I am going to credit where credit is due.
        It’s just simple logic.

      • It’s in the Wall Street Journal, ABC News, the New York Times, etc., etc. Maybe you should diversify your sources?

    • Trump would have had him out on day one of his upcoming administration. Biden had nothing to do with this and if by some slight chance the senile Cadavar played a role, his administration waited until election time to give them a “victory” to talk about because they can’t talk about their painfully abysmal record.

      • Ok.
        Hmmmm.
        So wasn’t trump president in 2018 when Mr. Whelan was taken prisoner ?
        Why wouldn’t he have gotten him out then ?
        Too busy golfing ?
        This kool-aide infused blind allegiance to a narcissistic misogynistic rapist. tax-cheating 4x indicted now fraud-convicted morally corrupt racist is getting just plain “old”.
        Must be too much winning.

      • Well let me ask you this then, He should’ve got him out on his first year in prison…. Paul has been there for 5 years, not 4.
        So what you speak of is total garbage!!!

      • Actually, Whelan was arrested during the 1st Trump administration (12/2018) and Trump said he turned down the chance to get Paul out. (And the family at the time said they were never contacted about the deal that didn’t happen, either). Reported by Detroit Free Press (12/12/22 “Trump claims he turned down prisoner swap…”) and The Hill (12/11/22 “Trump says he turned down deal…”) (MV Times won’t allow me to post the links but the info is easy to find in a Google search)

        • Brenda
          Here is a link to that story– I hope it goes through.
          https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/michigan/2022/12/12/trump-claims-he-turned-down-prisoner-swap-for-michigans-whelan/69720831007/
          Of course trump didn’t want to trade a decorated ex marine who served
          in the Iraq war for an arms dealer.
          He thinks people who go to war are “losers and suckers”.
          He also misses the irony that the United States is far and
          away the world’s leading supplier of arms ( that’s weapons, not
          prosthetic devices) . So I have to wonder, if we sell more of these weapons
          than any other country, who actually sells them ? I would think they
          would be “arms dealers” and “merchants of death”. As far as I know one of
          the gigantic houses on the Chilmark pond is owned by one of the so called
          merchants of death. Or is it only if someone is selling arms to the “other side”
          they are labeled “merchants of death” .If the good ole’
          boys in the US are selling weapons that kill tens of thousands
          of people in a place like say, Gaza, they are defending freedom
          and are heroes that deserve hundreds of billions of dollars
          in tax breaks.
          But back to the comment– trump was such an asinine negotiator
          that the Russians didn’t agree– trump saying he didn’t want to
          release the “merchant of death” is a joke.
          It’s not like Russia was going to sell any more weapons to their
          allies if this guy went back to Russia.

      • Martin. So if trump is so great and powerful why did he
        let Mr. Whelan sit in a Russian jail for over 2 years when
        he was actually president ?
        Kind of weird that he would deliberately allow that
        to happen, don’t cha’ think ?
        Or maybe, just maybe, you think is is just fake news
        that Whelan was arrested in 2018.
        I know a few trumpies that think there were no wars
        when trump lost the election in 2020.
        I mean trump has said that himself
        numerous times. No wars anywhere —-
        I guess you have been hoodwinked by the right
        wing media into believing that there was some kind of
        explosion that killed American service
        personnel in Afghanistan as the Biden administration
        was leaving a war that lasted through the
        entire trump administration.
        But that couldn’t be– the US was not involved any
        wars in Jan of 2021. trump said it during his “beautiful”
        gracious and healing acceptance speech just last month.
        He also said there were no terrorist attacks in the U.S during
        the whole 4 years he was president.
        Not even the “massacre” in Bowling Green kentucky
        that was carried out by 2 radicalized Iraqi’s .
        No wars, no terroir attacks, no falsely accused Americans
        in foreign jails, no illegal immigrants, everyone was employed
        and all the students in all the schools were above average .
        And everyone was healthy and happy.
        Ahhhh yes, back when America was great.
        Why would anyone not vote for trump ?

      • “Trump would have had him out on day one of his upcoming administration.”
        Trump had 742 days to return Paul, the immigrant.
        Trump is senile and weak, catch his next rally.

      • Ok Martin– Who actually “had something to do with this” ?
        Kamala? Maybe—She was in Germany recently.
        Obama? Maybe— some people think he is still pulling the strings.

        trump? No freaking way he had anything to do with the
        release because he was totally responsible for Whelan’s arrest
        and thinks he’s a “fool and a sucker”

        Jesus? — Ahhhh, I don’t know– I do know a lot of people asked him
        to do something about this—-

        The Flying Spaghetti Monster ? —This is my best guess because I ate a lot
        of Pasta last week and I personally asked the FSM to release
        these people. The FSM and I have a very close personal relationship,
        so I am quite sure he did it as a personal favor to me.

      • Martin, are you projecting conservative
        values onto the situation?
        Reagan’s CIA director covertly contacted
        the Iranians and had them hold
        the hostages until minutes after
        Reagan was inaugurated.
        Once again, Biden is sharp as a tack
        and using his diplomatic skills to
        make the world a better place.
        This is why leaders of the Free World
        breathed a sigh of relief when Biden
        was elected.

        Thank you for your service, President Biden!

        https://newrepublic.com/article/172324/its-settled-reagan-campaign-delayed-release-iranian-hostages

    • Every article I read on this doesn’t say anything about Harris. Are you making that part up? Sounds like fake news.

      • It’s in the Wall Street Journal and a bunch of other outlets. Get your nose out of Fox, you might learn something.

      • At the Munich Security Conference she met with German Chancellor Scholz and Slovenian Prime Minister Golob to convince them to go along with the deal. Check out the article in the WSJ.

      • Well they should say something about her persuading the German Chancellor in a private meeting earlier this year to release the Russian assassin imprisoned in Germany that Putin so badly wanted back.

      • Jerome– wake up dude–
        She was secretly in Russia 5 or 6 times.
        It’s hard to know how many times for sure
        because it was “secret”, but I know about it
        because I know someone who said it ( confidential source of course).
        She met with Putin face to face. She was very direct, and since
        Putin knows she will soon be the president , he decided
        to “clean house”. It’s pretty obvious.
        But the media didn’t report it because
        they are woke, corrupt, and trying to control us. And of course it was
        “secret”.
        But I am just as sure that all this secret stuff happened
        as andy is that Obama and Pelosi convinced Harris to invoke
        article 25, and that’s why Sleepy Brandon dropped out of
        the race.
        Let me be clear about that “just as sure” remark.
        The odds are even at “zero” percent chance.
        I’m kind of like my newfound freedom to
        just lie through my teeth all I want, present it as fact,
        and then say it was just my opinion.
        Thank you andy for encouraging me to do that.
        But– I hope the readers and commenters here will
        have enough wherewithal to be able to differentiate between actual
        realistic facts and blatant lies.
        Just look up the “Bowling Green massacre” to see the problem.
        And welcome home Paul.

  3. So thrilled to hear this.
    Elizabeth has worked tirelessly, we all would be fortunate to have such
    A champion. I hope he is well, and appreciate all the local and government
    Work by previous and current administrations that has gone into this release.

  4. Such an ordeal this innocent man and his family was put through. Thrilled he’s finally coming home!

  5. I actually saw JD Vance giving credit to trump
    for this release.
    https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/01/world/video/jd-vance-prisoner-swap-russia-trump-digvid
    Is there no shame ?
    Is there no bottom to the lies and deceit?
    no moral decency whatsoever ?
    Why can’t republicans ever give credit where credit is due ?
    This man is a clear example of a MAGA Maggot.
    I think it’s kind of weird—
    But more likely just the pathologically blind following of
    a cult leader.
    I’m gonna take a wild guess and say that I don’t think
    most of the vocal conservatives here will give Biden any credit.
    They can’t do it— They just can’t get their fingers to type the words.
    Prove me wrong– you know who you are– come out and say it.
    And if you think i’m talking about you, I am.
    One of them has even stated that Whelan deserved it.

    • I see that as of 5:45 August 5 not a single comment from anyone with
      BDS saying anything good about the efforts of his administration , his negotiators
      or the international effort.
      Disgusting !

  6. Hope his island family creates a go fund me for Paul. Losing his house and job because of Russia
    is heartbreaking. In addition he is a Veteran. 🙏👍 Welcome Home Paul.

  7. Absolutely the best news! Welcome home 🏡 Paul!!!….and heart felt thanks to President Biden, and all of our Allies who assisted in the hostages release!

  8. A heroic, successful diplomatic effort frees these valiant Americans, yet so sad to conclude that not each and every former president is fully celebrating their return. What happened to us? Let’s open our eyes and think clearly about what is wrong that this should be so, regardless of how we stand politically.

  9. Welcome back to civilization, Paul Whelan. Hopefully we will see you relaxing with family on the Vineyard in the near future.

    To the guy who asked for credible sources that Kamala Harris was involved in this release I would suggest you just turn on the tv and watch real news. It’s in plain sight. Propaganda stations won’t tell you.

  10. As we rejoice for those recently freed, please remember those still imprisoned. Our friend and former colleague and beloved international educator, is serving a 16 year sentence (very similar to Brittney Griner’s case) #freemarcfogel; say his name, Marc Fogel… Thank you.

  11. This story is so heart warming! There’s truly hope for our world! Biden and Harris used Diplomacy to bring people home! We won’t forget Marc Fogel and the others still imprisoned. We won’t forget that diplomacy works.
    Welcome home, Paul. Looking forward to hearing your stories.

  12. The obsessive hatred of Trump displayed in some of these long comments is not unlike the disordered personality of Trump himself.

    It’s ironic. There is a theory that we obsessively hate in others what we see in ourselves.
    The worst part of seeing all the hate displayed here under this article, is that it’s inappropriate to a story of immense joy, relief, and gratitude.

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