Paul Whelan, an American who has been imprisoned in Russia for nearly five years, pressed Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone call in August to ensure that he is not left behind again, Whelan told CNN.
“I told him point blank that leaving me here the first time painted a target on my back and leaving me here the second time basically signed a death warrant,” said Whelan, who called CNN on Friday from his remote prison camp in Mordovia. He said he told the top US diplomat that “unless they got me back, it could be quite challenging in the future, especially with my age and the sort of work we have to do from a health and safety point of view.
“If we can’t make it happen based on what’s available to us now, we’ll need to figure out what that takes so we can bring our people home,” a senior administration official told CNN in August. “Secretary Blinken remains committed to bringing Paul home,” a State Department spokesperson told CNN on Monday. “The United States has been clear that Russia’s wrongful detention of Paul Whelan is outrageous and he should be immediately set free.
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