CNN —US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on Monday with Paul Whelan, an American who has been detained in Russia for more than five years, the top US diplomat said Tuesday.
And they will until he and Evan Gershkovich and every other American wrongfully detained is back with their loved ones,” Blinken said at an event on hostage diplomacy at the Wilson Center.
State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said Tuesday that Blinken “assured Paul Whelan, as he has in his previous calls, that we’re with you.
The time is now to take decisive action and bring this debacle to a close,” Whelan told CNN from his prison camp in Mordovia.
Miller reiterated on Monday that the US has “put a significant offer on the table” to try to secure Whelan and Gershkovich’s release.
Persons:
Antony Blinken, Paul Whelan, Paul, Evan Gershkovich, ” Blinken, Matt Miller, “, Biden, ” Miller, Whelan, Blinken, ” Whelan, Joe Biden, ”, Miller
Organizations:
CNN, Wilson Center . State, US State Department
Locations:
American, Russia, Mordovia