The former US marine Paul Whelan says basketball champion Brittney Griner provided “great help” to him by advocating for his freedom from Russian captivity after she was released.
“Within days of her getting home, she was talking to people about how they could support me, and she had people making monetary donations, sending cards, sending letters, offering all sorts of support,” Whelan said in an interview being aired on CBS’s Face the Nation at 10.30am ET on Sunday.
Whelan told the news program’s host, Margaret Brennan, that he became emotional when he saw Griner on television participating in the Paris Olympics upon his arrival at Maryland’s Joint Base Andrews after a complex prison exchange between Russia and the US resulted in his release.
“It was one of those incredible moments when you’re … finally connecting things,” Whelan remarked in a clip previewing his conversation with Brennan, which was billed as his first news media interview since Russia released him.
Russia accused Whelan of being a spy and jailed him in December 2018 while he was traveling for a friend’s wedding. Though the US dismissed the allegations as bogus, Russia convicted Whelan and – in June 2020 – sentenced him to 16 years in prison.
The fates of Whelan and Griner became tied to each other in February 2022, when the collegiate, WNBA and Olympic champion basketballer was arrested in Russia after agents allegedly found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage as she traveled there to play during the American off-season. She later pleaded guilty to drug charges and received a nine-year prison sentence.
However, in late 2022, the American government exchanged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout as well as drug trafficker Konstantin Yaroshenko to get Griner and marine veteran Trevor Reed back to the US. The US said Russia refused to include Whelan in either deal.
Whelan later said that the US had “basically signed a death warrant” for him by twice agreeing to prisoner swaps that omitted him.
Griner subsequently shouldered an active role in rallying support for other Americans detained in foreign countries. She has collaborated with Bring Our Families Home, a campaign launched in 2022 by the families of American hostages and detained persons wrongfully held overseas. And she has spoken multiple times with Joe Biden to ensure the president and others in important positions keep detainees in mind.
In August, a deal among the US, Russia and five other countries resulted in Whelan being freed from Russian custody alongside Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who had also been held on espionage charges that the American government deemed meritless.
Griner hailed the releases of Whelan, Gershkovich and the others as “a great day”. When Whelan saw her on television after returning to the US, Griner had helped the American women’s basketball team defeat Belgium en route to what was her third consecutive Olympic gold medal with the group.
Whelan said his experience as a Russian prisoner has left him battling post-traumatic stress disorder, although he has “put back on some of the weight” that he lost during his captivity.
He said his Russian captors “from day one” told him “there would be a trade, a political solution to this situation”.
Nonetheless, “as it dragged on, it did play with my mind”, Whelan said to CBS. “There was a psychological piece to this.”
Whelan served with the US marine corps reserve from 2003 to 2008, spending most of that time as an administrative clerk in Iraq.
