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Paul Whelan believes his swap options to be limited if US returns Gershkovich

He stressed that "there’s a lot more the US government could do to create the leverage" to bring him home

NEW YORK, December 29. /TASS/. US citizen Paul Whelan, convicted in Russia, believes that the possibilities of his exchange will be significantly limited if Washington first deals with the return of journalist Evan Gershkovich.

"I’m concerned that the [Joe] Biden administration will work out a deal for Evan [Gershkovich] to be returned home, leaving me here a third time," Whelan told WTOP radio in an interview.

He stressed that "there’s a lot more the US government could do to create the leverage" to bring him home. "I just don’t see any action on anybody’s part. I mean, it’s just business as usual," Whelan lamented. The prisoner added that the US abandoned him when it swapped Russian citizen Viktor Bout for American basketball player Brittney Griner.

According to him, the US may discuss with Germany ways to exchange Americans, as Moscow is interested in the return of Vadim Krasikov, a Russian citizen convicted in Germany.

Earlier, White House National Security Council Spokesperson Adrienne Watson said that the US was negotiating with third countries to find a way to return Gershkovich and Whelan.

Former US intelligence officer Paul Whelan, who was arrested in Moscow on December 28, 2018, while receiving a flash drive containing data on employees of a Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) unit, was sentenced to 16 years in prison for espionage. In March 2023, Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter, was arrested in Russia on espionage charges. He faces up to 20 years in prison, but has not pleaded guilty.

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