The sister of Paul Whelan, a retired Marine detained in Russia, told Newsmax on Friday that her brother was "wrongfully detained" and is being held in the "rotten conditions" of Mordovia.
Joining "Prime News" one day after her brother David Whelan's appearance, Elizabeth Whelan walked through the background to Paul's imprisonment and the current steps being taken to retrieve him.
Elizabeth Whelan explained that the Russian Federal Security Service set up Paul in 2018, giving him "a USB drive and then arresting him five minutes later, saying it had state secrets on it."
"He was then held for almost two years at Lefortovo Prison — which is a really notorious prison in Moscow — given a sham trial, and then after that a 16-year sentence," she continued. "This has all been theater on the part of the Russians to put as high a price on him as they could."
Both Paul Whelan and WNBA star Brittney Griner were held in "prison camps only miles away from each other in an area of Russia called Mordovia," according to Elizabeth Whelan. "This is part of the Stalin-era gulag system ... definitely those are rotten conditions."
The sister theorized that Russia "purposefully" pulled back on plans to bundle the two together in a prison exchange "because they knew how much trouble it would cause," adding that it's what the Kremlin delights in.
"It has been so hard the last couple of days to watch everybody discussing my brother in terms of the value of what we would give up for him," she shared. "You know, he's my youngest brother. I think he is worth anything, and he's certainly worth more than any Russian criminal."
Her comments arrive several days after the U.S. traded Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for Griner in a highly publicized prisoner swap, according to CBS News.
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