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Arrested in 2018 in Russia, Whelan was convicted of spying
charges in 2020 and sentenced to 16 years in a penal colony in
Mordovia, a Russian region notorious since Soviet times for its
penal colonies. He has denied the accusations.
The Biden administration has designated Whelan as "wrongfully
detained," a legal term that means that charges are baseless and
that he was targeted primarily because he is an American
citizen.
Dressed in prison's black uniform and matching hat, Whelan
appears in different parts of the prison with other inmates,
sewing using a sewing machine and while at the cafeteria in the
footage Russian state-controlled network Russia Today (RT) put
out.
"Today was the first time I've seen what he really looks like
since June 2020," his brother David Whelan said in an email.
He said the Russia Today had showed up in the prison in May to
film Whelan and when he declined to participate, the prison
staff retaliated against him. In the video, Whelan tells the
questioner that he will not answer his questions.
The Biden administration has carried out two prisoner swaps with
Russia amid frosty bilateral ties due to Moscow's invasion of
Ukraine. Whelan was part of neither.
In April 2022, Russia released former U.S. marine Trevor Reed,
who was convicted there in 2019, in exchange for Russian pilot
Konstantin Yaroshenko.
In a December 2022 prisoner swap with Russia, Washington secured
the release of U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner in exchange
for notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout.
This month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by
phone with Whelan. The administration has repeatedly said it is
doing everything it can to bring him home.
Russia is also holding American citizen and Wall Street Journal
reporter Evan Gershkovich on spying charges that carry up to 20
years in prison. He was arrested in end-March in the Urals city
of Yekaterinburg.
Gershkovich, who has denied the charges, appealed on Saturday
against the latest extension of his pre-trial detention in
Moscow.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Josie Kao)
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