Gratitude and relief as Whelan comes home

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Updated, Aug. 7

The Edgartown artist Elizabeth Whelan stood next to President Biden in the White House last week during a press conference with the whole world watching. 

Looking out at a sea of reporters and photographers, she had just received news that her younger brother, 54-year-old Paul Whelan, along with three other Americans, had been released from wrongful detention in Russia and was being flown to Turkey before coming home. 

It was a long negotiation leading to the end of a long ordeal, culminating with a dramatic exchange of prisoners not seen between the U.S. and Russia since the Cold War. It unleashed a wave of relief around the world, and the ripples of that joy landed on the shores of Edgartown for the Whelan family and an Island community that had been waiting for this good news. 

“It was an extraordinary moment,” Elizabeth Whelan said in an interview with The Times, after she was able to talk with Paul for the first time since he was detained in Russia for 2,043 days. “It was a huge sense of relief. Trying to bring him home has been part of life for so long. It’s almost startling.”

The call was made from the Oval Office at the White House just before the prisoners were flown from Turkey to D.C. She said the call was a bit of a blur and she barely remembers what she said to her brother, aside from saying that the family was delighted he was finally coming home.

Starting on Tuesday, the last week has been a whirlwind for the Chappy resident. After nearly six years, she not only got to speak with her brother for the first time, she was able to embrace him as he stepped onto U.S. soil on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

When Elizabeth Whelan finally did embrace her brother — with cameras clicking and the president and vice president looking on Thursday around midnight — it was an overwhelming moment of relief after what felt like endless worry. It has been nearly six years that she has been advocating for the release of her brother: from talking to diplomats around the world, sending letters, lobbying congressional representatives, and meeting with the president.

“It’s more than just a worry. You would just drive yourself crazy thinking about it,” she said of what she called a second job. “The stress level is constant.” 

Over the last week, Elizabeth Whelan was front and center in the national spotlight. She stood side-by-side with President Biden on Thursday as the president announced that he reached a deal with Russia — involving several other countries — on an historic prisoner exchange that has been reported as the largest exchange since the Cold War.

“Now the brutal ordeal is over. They are free,” Biden said.

The former Marine has been held captive in Russia since 2018 after traveling to the country for a wedding. In 2021, he was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 16 years in a maximum-security colony. He and his family, including his sister, have vehemently denied the allegations. But during those nearly six years, among other tribulations, he faced threats on his life from other inmates. 

“All have endured unimaginable suffering and uncertainty,” Biden said during the press conference. “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 Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist, and Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian opposition politician.

In a four-page statement issued on Thursday, 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.

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.”

Islanders have supported Paul financially for things like making phone calls and potential legal fees while he was in Russia. There were also smaller things like writing letters to keep his spirits up. Those fruitful gestures are now past.

Elizabeth, speaking to those who helped here on Island, was overcome with gratitude. She said that her inbox has been flooded with notes of congratulations and well-wishes. “I want to extend a huge thank you to everybody on the Island for your efforts,” Elizabeth said. “You were all part of the effort to free Paul Whelan.”

Elizabeth has also been in the thoughts of Congressman Bill Keating. Keating had sent letters to Russian officials advocating for Paul Whelan’s release from a Russian labor camp. “For over five years, Paul Whelan sat unjustly detained in a Russian cell for a crime he did not commit,” Keating said. 

“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,” the local congressman said.

For Elizabeth, she’s been back on the Island since Friday with a major chapter in her life drawn to a close. She can turn attention to her life on the Island, and she’s busy finishing commissions and paintings for a show in September. She has work to do but it’s nice work and with less dread. She’s thankful that a major part of her life for the past six years is slowly turning into the past. 

“I’m exceptionally pleased to be able to sit out in my garden and worry only about painting,” she said.