The US made several other offers to the Russians, sources said, to try to get them to agree to include Whelan in the swap. The German government was not willing to seriously consider including Krasikov –who assassinated a Georgian citizen in broad daylight in Berlin in 2019 - in a potential trade, the German source said. But ultimately, the US was not able to secure Krasikov’s release. US officials made quiet inquiries to the Germans about whether they might be willing to include Krasikov in the trade, a senior German government source told CNN earlier this year. The US was unable to deliver on the request for the ex-colonel, Vadim Krasikov, because he is serving out a life sentence for murder in Germany.ĬNN first reported exclusively in August that the Russians had requested that Krasikov be released along with Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who was serving a 25-year sentence in the US, in exchange for Whelan and Griner. Russia refused to release Paul Whelan alongside Brittney Griner unless a former colonel from Russia’s domestic spy organization currently in German custody was also released as part of any prisoner swap, US officials told CNN, even as the US offered up the names of several other Russian prisoners in US custody that they would be willing to trade. "If nothing else, on this day when my twin brother continues to suffer a gross injustice in Russia and another American is freed from injustice, I am confident President Biden cares and his team is making an effort," David Whelan said. "Unfortunately, that wasn't enough for Paul.By Natasha Bertrand, Kylie Atwood, Sean Lyngaas and Jennifer Hansler officials say the charges were false, and that he was wrongly convicted in a closed-door trial in June 2020. Russian authorities allege they caught him with classified information and charged him with espionage. 28, 2018, in his room at the Metropol Hotel in Moscow. He lived in Novi and worked in global security for auto-parts supplier BorgWarner when he was arrested Dec. Like Reed, Paul Whelan also is a former Marine. More: Brittney Griner 'in good condition,' State Department says after Russia grants access to detained WNBA star "Paul has already spent 3¼ years as a Russian hostage. Is President Biden's failure to bring Paul home an admission that some cases are too hard to solve? Is the administration's piecemeal approach picking low-hanging fruit? And how does a family know that their loved one's case is too difficult, a hostage too far out of reach?" "The negotiations that allowed us to bring Trevor home required difficult decisions that I do not take lightly," President Joe Biden said in a statement Wednesday, pledging to continue to negotiate the release of Whelan and other Americans detained abroad. after he was arrested in Liberia in 2010 and extradited to the U.S. He was swapped for Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot serving a 20-year federal prison sentence in Connecticut for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the U.S. government has described him as unjustly detained. Reed was sentenced to nine years in prison, though his family has maintained his innocence and the U.S. Reed, a former Marine from Texas, was arrested in summer 2019 after Russian authorities said he assaulted an officer following a night of heavy drinking. "You can imagine that today is one of varied emotions in our family." "Trevor is free. Paul remains a hostage," said Whelan's twin brother, David Whelan, in a statement issued Wednesday morning. More: War in Ukraine may stall talks to free Paul Whelan, Michigan man imprisoned in Russia
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