U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House on Aug. 1, 2024, in Washington, D.C., holds hands with Elizabeth Whelan, sister of freed American prisoner Paul Whelan, as he announces the release of Whelan, Wall Street Journal Reporter Evan Gershkovich and others from Russian prison. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/TNS)
WASHINGTON (Tribune News Service) — David Whelan didn’t believe the news at first. Not entirely.
The Whelan family had been through days like Thursday twice before in 2022 when David’s twin brother, Paul, was left behind in Russia as part of two previous U.S.-Russian prisoner exchanges ― for basketball star Brittney Griner and former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed.
Those days ended with bitter disappointment and heartache for the family of Paul Whelan, a former security executive from Novi, Michigan, who had been held in Russian custody since late December 2018. U.S. officials had long deemed him wrongfully detained ― a political hostage ― but the Russians were holding out to extract a higher price.
“I don’t think any of us had our hopes up too high,” David told The Detroit News on Thursday afternoon. “We had had our hopes dashed twice. And there wasn’t a clear signal from the government that it was going to be positive news.”
So when word started to trickle out in spurts on Thursday morning, he remained hopeful but wary. Then came the confirmation that Paul had been freed in a prisoner exchange.
“Until I saw the White House statement, I wasn’t going to believe that it was 100% done,” David Whelan said. “So yeah, now I’m sort of closing that chapter. Moving on.”
David and his older sister, Elizabeth, had their own lives upended five and a half years ago — 2,043 days by David’s count — when their brother, now 54, was arrested in a Moscow hotel room on Dec. 28, 2018, on what he and U.S. officials decried as bogus espionage charges. Convicted in 2020, Paul Whelan was sentenced to 16 years of hard labor that he was serving at a labor camp in remote Mordovia, toiling at a garment factory.
The Whelan siblings spent the years since Paul’s arrest politely yet persistently advocating for his release both behind the scenes in Washington and in front of news cameras.
They split up their duties. David, a law librarian by day, handled most news media interviews, drafted statements and tracked his brother in the Russian press from his home in San Diego. Elizabeth, a portrait artist, became the family’s liaison to the White House, State Department and Capitol Hill, making 26 trips to Washington, D.C., from her home in Massachusetts — the most recent two weeks ago.
Both siblings spent innumerable hours away from their work and families pushing for their brother’s case to be handled as a top priority of first the Trump and then the Biden administrations, pressing for updates and details on the government’s efforts but also on Paul’s physical health and well-being.
All the while, they tried to shield their elderly parents, Ed and Rosemary Whelan, who live in Manchester in rural Washtenaw County, from the worst of the whole anxiety-inducing process of trying to get a loved one released from prison half a world away.
“This family never gave up. … His parents, his siblings never gave up. Elizabeth was tenacious in pushing both the White House and the State Department,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor. “I remember how let down they were when Brittney came home. … This president needs to get credit for getting this done.”
All that stress and grief came to an abrupt, relief-inducing close on Thursday when Biden’s team released a statement confirming that Whelan, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Russian dissidents and others from the United States, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Belarus had been released by Russia as part of the largest prisoner exchange since the Cold War.
“Paul is free,” David typed in what he called his family’s last statement to the media.
About 30 minutes later, Elizabeth stood smiling next to Biden, holding his hand as the president announced the news from the White House State Dining Room: “Their brutal ordeal is over,” Biden said.
What’s next for Paul
Paul Whelan was on a flight back to the United States on Thursday and was expected to land late in the evening at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are expected to greet him.
After that, Paul is likely to be transported to a military installation ― possibly Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, where both Griner and Reed were taken ― for medical care and post-isolation support. It was unclear Thursday how soon his family members might be able to visit him there, or if his sister would be permitted to accompany him.
David Whelan, in his statement, implored journalists to allow Paul, his parents and siblings to regain some privacy and time to readjust to his being back in the United States.
“This is now Paul’s story to tell, and I’m sure he will, in time, communicate how he wants to tell it. It is vital that he be given agency over his life again, something the Kremlin took away for so many years,” David said in the statement.
“My work as our family spokesperson is over. Just as on December 27, 2018, our family has no need for a spokesperson. Our goal has been achieved, and our part in this story is over.”
What happened this week
The Whelans didn’t go into Thursday totally blind. White House officials had provided Elizabeth with some preparatory guidance about a week earlier, but they knew whatever the arrangement was would be delicate and could break down at any time, David Whelan told The News. The siblings prepared their mom and dad for both possibilities, he said.
“Elizabeth said, essentially, we should be prepared for bad news, as well as good news. So there was a feeling of not getting your hopes up too high because it could still fall apart,” David said.
There were unverified reports earlier this week that Paul was no longer at his labor camp in Mordovia. His parents had last received their near-daily telephone call from Paul in prison on Friday, David said, but that wasn’t so unusual that the family was worried about it.
“We had a sense that some things might be related, but we didn’t have a confirmation that he had left the prison until today,” David Whelan told The News.
The siblings spent Wednesday monitoring the activity in Russia, including the political prisoners there who were being rounded up, moved or seemed to disappearing ― not really sure what was going on, David said.
His parents went to the grocery store for a “big shop” in the case they had to be camped out at home for multiple days to avoid the media. They also went outside and chained their gate, David said.
David said he prepared statements to the press going both ways ― one in the case his twin was released and one in which he was not.
The White House statement came as he was walking to work Thursday. Only then did David feel some sense of relief, he said.
Asked if he thought Paul would ultimately resettle in Michigan, where he’d been their parents’ primary caregiver, David said he wasn’t sure. Paul’s job with auto supplier BorgWarner is long gone, as is his apartment. His dog, Flora, died last year.
“I think probably it is home, Michigan,” David said. “But when you have your entire life erased ― your job, your home ― and maybe some of your friends and relationships didn’t stay strong while you were away, I’m not sure. I’m not sure.”
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