NEW YORK, May 22. /TASS/. US national Paul Whelan, convicted in Russia for espionage, told CNN on Sunday that he would like authorities in the United States to work out his release quickly.

"I remain positive and confident on a daily basis that the wheels are turning. I just wish they would turn a little bit more quickly," Whelan said in an exclusive interview with CNN from his prison camp in Mordovia.

According to Whelan, US officials have assured him that he "won’t be left behind." He believes that his case and the case of another American, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, detained in Russia on the same charges, is a priority for the United States. "And I’m told that the government is working tirelessly to get me out of here and to get me home so they can then focus effort on Evan and his case," Whelan added.

Whelan also told the US TV channel that he knows that negotiations are underway and called on the US government and Russian officials "to work this out quickly." Addressing his request to US President Joe Biden, Whelan said, "Please follow through with your promises and commitments, truly make my life a priority, and get me home." He insisted that "the only crime" he had committed in Russia was that of "being an American citizen."

Last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Tsargrad TV in an interview that Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov sometimes gets phone calls from the White House requesting the release of both Gershkovich and Whelan.

On December 28, 2018, Whelan, who holds US, UK, Canadian and Irish citizenship, was detained by the FSB in a room at the Metropol Hotel in downtown Moscow while on an alleged spy mission. The FSB charged him with espionage also under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code. In mid-June 2020, the Moscow City Court found Whelan guilty of spying against Russia and sentenced him to serve 16 years in a maximum security prison.