Paul Whelan will have completed six years in a Russian prison by the end of 2024. A month before that, November presidential electionExperts familiar with the talks say there could be an opportunity to release Whelan soon after the election.
“I think that will open the door for negotiations again,” said Mickey Bergman, vice president of the Richardson Center for Global Engagement. “I just wish we didn’t have to wait, because for us it’s just a few more months. For prisoners every day is a day they could die.”
Bergman has spent the past decade working on negotiations to release Americans imprisoned abroad, including those in Russia. He worked closely with the former ambassador to the United Nations and former Democratic new Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. Bergman now directs Global Reach for the Richardson Center for Global Engagement. He believes the recent arrests of American citizens may be a response to the failed efforts to release Paul Whelan.
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“The Russia case is interesting. They took Paul Whelan, they wanted a fixed deal. We refused to negotiate, so they took Trevor Reed. We still refused to negotiate, so they took Brittney Griner,” Bergman said.
Whelan was arrested in December 2018. He had traveled to Russia to attend a friend’s wedding when he suddenly disappeared. Three days later, the Russian government announced his arrest on charges of espionage.
“We made clear to the Russians that we would seek more information about the allegations, understand what they are accused of, and if the detention is not appropriate, we would seek their immediate return,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at the time.
Mickey Bergman spoke with Neda Shargi and formerly detained WNBA player Brittney Griner. (Andrew Jenks)
Whelan was a corporate security executive and former Marine. He was discharged for bad conduct in 2008 after he was accused of using fake documents and attempting to steal thousands of dollars while on duty in Iraq. He had been visiting Russia since at least 2007 and had spent more than a decade making friends and contacts in the country. His family insisted Whelan was detained. In Russia When he was arrested he had gone there for tourism.
“My brother is not a spy,” Whelan’s brother David said shortly after the arrest. “Paul’s background is in law enforcement. He has military experience, he’s been in corporate security.”
Experts believe her arrest was a response to the Kremlin’s detention of a Russian citizen by the US. Maria Butina pleaded guilty in 2018 to a US federal charge of conspiracy to act as a foreign agent. Butina had provided information to the Russian government on prominent US political figures.
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“My reputation is ruined, both here in the United States and abroad,” Butina told a federal judge before she was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
There was some talk that Butina could be appointed as Whalen’s replacement, but the effort never gained momentum.
“In the current situation, there are no talks about any kind of exchange,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in January 2019.
Mickey Bergman was seen with Cameron Hume and the late former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson near St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow. (Mickey Bergman)
Butina was released in 2019 after serving most of her sentence. She remains in prison now. Russia’s parliament, the State DumaThe US Treasury imposed sanctions on him due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. By then, Whelan had served two years of his 16-year prison sentence.
“There were four opportunities to bring him home, but it didn’t happen,” Bergman said.
Negotiators first began working on a prisoner swap, including for Russian drug trafficker Konstantin Yaroshenko. Bergman details those talks in his new book. in the shadowswhere the Russians requested dental care for Yaroshenko in exchange for medical care for Whelan.
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“We started with small steps,” Bergman said of conversations with Russian ambassador Anatoly Antonov. “He said, ‘Basically, it’s not one for one, but we believe in reciprocity. If you can arrange dental treatment for Konstantin Yaroshenko, I’m sure Paul Whelan will get the medical exam you’re asking for.’”
When COVID-19 pandemic As the matter progressed, Bergman and his team worked with Russian negotiators to advance mutual discussions.
“Antonov, without actually saying anything … suggested that if we were able to secure the release of Konstantin Yaroshenko on humanitarian grounds, he would do the same and Paul Whelan would come home,” Bergman said.
Bergman presented this proposal to the White House, believing it to be a good offer, but the Trump administration turned down the deal.
“It’s complicated. I believe Donald Trump “He really wanted to bring Paul Whelan back home, as he still does. He talks about him and the rest of the Americans who are detained, but he doesn’t want to give anything in exchange,” Bergman said.
Nearly two years later, Yaroshenko’s name again came up on the negotiating table, in exchange for another American prisoner.
“When we do our job, none of the deals we make are fair or equitable, and they’re criticized a lot,” Bergman said.
Trevor Reed was arrested in 2019 when he was accused of attacking a Russian police officer. Bergman says Russia requested a two-prisoner swap. Whelan and Reed would go back to the US in exchange for Yaroshenko and a Russian arms dealer known as the Merchant of Death, Viktor Bout. The US was hesitant to make a deal that included Bout, who was indicted by a US federal grand jury in 2011 for conspiring to murder American citizens.
“We have to keep in mind that our counterparts in Russia can also play with us,” Bergman said.
Bergman and Richardson were photographed in front of a Georgetown mural depicting Brittney Griner and other detained U.S. citizens.
President Biden prepares for the meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin For the 2021 Helsinki summit, Bergman and Richardson suggested the White House raise the issue of a possible prisoner swap.
“I said the families of the detained Americans came and we discussed it.” President Biden “I am not going to back down on this issue,” he said after the meeting.
Bergman says no official proposal was ever made after the summit. Nearly a year later, only half of the deal has been implemented. Reed returned to the US and Yaroshenko was sent back to Russia. He is now part of Putin’s prison inspection room.
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“When we went to talk about the Trevor Reed and Paul Whelan case, it was the end of February and the war in Ukraine had already started,” Bergman said. “We actually had no idea that Brittney Griner had already been taken.”
Just days before the Russian invasion of UkrainePhoenix Mercury player Brittney Griner was traveling to Russia to play for the country’s Premier League during the WNBA off-season. When she was going through customs, officers found cannabis oil in her luggage. She was arrested and charged with smuggling for carrying the substance, which is illegal in Russia.
“We are not arguing that Britney brought it here as a drug. We are still saying that she brought it here inadvertently because she was in a hurry,” Griner’s attorney, Alexander Boykov, said after a court hearing in July 2022.
Mickey Bergman is pictured with Richardson (center), along with Steve Menzies and Taylor Dudley, who have been released from Russian captivity. (Mickey Bergman)
Negotiators will discuss another two-for-two swap involving Griner and Whelan in exchange for Bout and a Russian money launderer. U.S. officials say the Russians have decided not to release Whelan. Griner will be released in exchange for Bout.
President Joe Biden said in December 2022, after Griner’s release, “There wasn’t a choice about which American to bring home. Sadly, for entirely illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul’s case differently than Britney’s.”
Bout returned to Russia and now serves as a member of the regional legislature. He says his imprisonment in the US, like Griner’s in Russia, was unjust.
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“When I was sentenced to 25 years, there was the same outrage in Russia,” Bout told ESPN in September 2023. “Many would say, ‘What for?'”
Wall Street Journal reporter Ivan Gershkovich was arrested nearly four months after Griner’s release. He was detained during a reporting trip to the Ural Mountains and charged with espionage.
“The Russians are very particular. Ivan Gershkovitch is a reporter. Another reporter from Radio Free Europe has also been captured and held in Russia.”
American journalist Ivan Gershkovich, arrested on espionage charges, speaks to his lawyers from inside the defendant’s cage after a hearing to consider an appeal over his extended pre-trial detention at the First Appellate Court in Moscow, April 23, 2024. (Photo: Natalia Kolesnikova / AFP)
Prague-based editor Alsu Kurmasheva was arrested in October 2023 while visiting her elderly mother. She faces several charges, including failure to report herself as a foreign agent.
“The Russians don’t consider them political prisoners. They consider them something else,” Bergman said.
The cases of Gershkovitch and Whelan have received the most coverage, but an unknown number of US citizens remain in Russian prisons.
Less high-profile cases include American school teacher Mark Fogel and musician Travis Leake, who were arrested separately in 2012. Drug chargesKsenia Khavana has dual citizenship and was arrested on charges of treason when she returned to Russia to visit her family.
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Last month, US Army soldier Gordon Black was arrested on charges of criminal misconduct following a woman’s complaint. The Russian court says he will be kept in custody until at least July 2.
Bergman says Putin will likely not reach an agreement to release any prisoners until after the US election.
“President Putin has no interest in making a deal that will make President Biden feel good,” Bergman said. “You can call me an optimist, but I believe that after November, no matter what the outcome of the election in this country, there will be an opportunity to negotiate.”
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While the U.S. and other countries can work with negotiators to secure the release of Americans living abroad, the government cannot tell a foreign court whether a citizen is guilty or innocent. U.S. government officials also cannot provide legal advice or representation. state Department A Level 4 travel advisory is currently in place for Russia, urging Americans not to travel there, in part due to the potential for U.S. citizens to be detained.
