WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th July, 2023) The family of former US Marine Paul Whelan, imprisoned in Russia on charges of espionage, said on Wednesday they are unaware of any talks on possible prisoner exchanges between Washington and Moscow.
On Monday, the Russian embassy in the US said that its diplomats visited Vladimir Dunaev, a Russian citizen who has been in US pre-trial detention on cybercrime charges since the fall of 2021. On the same day, US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy was granted consular access and visited Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, held in Russia on espionage charges. When asked whether the consular visits herald a potential prisoner swap, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that there have been "certain contacts" with the US on the issue. He reaffirmed, however, that all such talks should be held in secret.
"I don't know anything about prisoner exchanges. I especially don't know anything related to Mr. Gershkovich's case, which, like all of the other wrongfully detained cases, is separate from Paul's," David Whelan, Paul's brother, said in a statement.
David Whelan suggested that Peskov's statement, Ambassador Tracy's consular access to Gershkovich and Russian consular access to Dunaev could be a "conflation of three events," which just happened closely in time.
He also expressed confidence that the US government continues to look for ways to secure Paul Whelan's release.
Paul Whelan was arrested in Moscow in December 2018 and sentenced to 16 years in prison on charges of espionage. Whelan, who is also a citizen of Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom, has maintained that he is innocent and insisted that he arrived in Russia for a friend's wedding.
