Paul Whelan's Brother Says Biden Made Right Call Releasing Brittney Griner

The brother of detained American Paul Whelan has said he believes President Joe Biden made the right call in securing the release of women's basketball star Brittney Griner in a prisoner swap.

David Whelan spoke on Thursday about Griner's release and the fact that his brother Paul, a former U.S. Marine, is still being detained in Russia, despite hopes he might be released along with Griner.

Speaking to CNN, David Whelan said he was "absolutely supportive" of the Biden administration's decision to bring Griner home.

"I think to prolong the punishment of one American in a foreign hostage situation in the hope that you might be able to bring home two of them is absolutely the wrong call for the U.S. president to make," Whelan said.

"An American in that situation who has a possibility of coming home... I think the U.S. president has to bring them home," Whelan added. "And unfortunately for my brother and for our family, it's not our family member, but I think from the perspective of Americans, that's the right decision."

Griner's release was secured in a prisoner exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, but Paul Whelan remains in Russia. The U.S. State Department has declared him to be wrongfully detained, and President Biden acknowledged the situation in remarks on Thursday morning.

"This was not a choice of which American to bring home," Biden said. "Sadly, for totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul's case differently than Brittney's. And while we have not yet succeeded in securing Paul's release, we are not giving up. We will never give up."

Paul Whelan told CNN in an interview from the Russian penal colony where he's being held that he was "greatly disappointed that more has not been done to secure my release, especially as the four-year anniversary of my arrest is coming up."

Russian authorities detained Whelan in Moscow in 2018 and was accused of involvement in an intelligence operation. He was convicted in 2020 and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

"I was arrested for a crime that never occurred," Whelan told CNN on Thursday. "I don't understand why I'm still sitting here."

Whelan said he had been "led to believe that things were moving in the right direction, and that the governments were negotiating and that something would happen fairly soon."

Griner was arrested in a Moscow airport in February and accused of drug smuggling. She was convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison for possession of cannabis oil, which had been found in her luggage.

Griner testified that she had put the oil in her bag inadvertently, and the defense argued at her trial that she had used cannabis to treat pain. She served 10 months in a Russian prison.

Newsweek has asked the White House for comment.