NEW YORK, June 15. /TASS/. US national Paul Whelan is unlikely to return to the United States after a Russia-US summit scheduled for June 16, the jailed American’s brother David told TASS.
"I am glad that President Putin accepted President Biden's invitation to participate in the summit. The lack of communication and collaboration between the two nations is an obstacle to resolving Paul's case," he pointed out. "President Biden has indicated that humanitarian concerns and human rights will be raised at the summit, and I expect that, if Paul's case is raised, it would be in that context. I doubt that the summit itself will have an immediate impact on Paul. Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov has been consistent — from July 2019 to today — that Paul is not a candidate for extradition, and, in any event, extradition would not result in Paul’s freedom," David Whelan added. "But the summit, if it is successful in creating additional dialogue or opportunities for the US and Russia to work together, may provide other opportunities to find a way to persuade the Russian government to free Paul," he noted.
Paul Whelan, who holds the US, British, Canadian, and Irish passports, was detained by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) in Moscow on December 28, 2018, while on a spy mission. A criminal case was opened against him under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code (espionage). The Moscow City Court eventually sentenced Whelan to 16 years in a high-security penal colony.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with NBC that Russia was ready to exchange prisoners with the US.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told the Izvestia daily earlier that Moscow was willing to invoke the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons and hand US nationals jailed in Russia over to the United States, but Paul Whelan, convicted of espionage, was not among them.