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SITREP Pod 2: Free Paul Whelan, American held in Russia | Pod Hostage Diplomacy
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The United States government has put forward an offer to the Russian authorities to secure the release of two wrongfully detained Americans in the country – Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner. Paul Whelan is a former US Marine and Brittney Griner is a WNBA superstar athlete.
On this episode, we speak again to Paul’s sister, Elizabeth Whelan. Elizabeth talks to us about her recent call with President Biden, the US proposal to Russia to secure Paul and Brittney’s release, the Russian government asking for more as well as push back within the US. We also discuss what the Russian and US governments need to do as well as what journalists, news editors and the public can do to help bring Paul and Brittney home.
If you prefer, you can watch the video version of this interview on YouTube.
For more information on Paul Whelan, please check out the following:
- Our previous episodes: Ep 4, Ep 21, Ep 35
- Free Paul Whelan website
- Free Paul Whelan Go Fund Me
- Elizabeth Whelan's Twitter account
- Social media hashtag: FreePaulWhelan
Get the latest updates on hostage cases we at Pod Hostage Diplomacy are working on including new episodes by subscribing to our fortnightly newsletter, the Hostage Briefing. Subscribe here.
Chapters
1. Intro (00:00:00)
2. Who is Paul Whelan? (00:02:04)
3. Summary of what happened to Paul Whelan (00:06:04)
4. Who is Brittney Griner and how does her case relate to Paul? (00:08:32)
5. Call with US President Joe Biden (00:12:56)
6. Proposed prisoner exchange between US and Russia (00:23:55)
7. Push back on proposed prisoner exchange from within the US (00:29:05)
8. What should the Russian government do? (00:34:44)
9. What should the US government do better? (00:36:48)
10. President Biden’s latest Executive Order (00:39:47)
11. US government saying there is no higher priority than bringing Americans home (00:47:20)
12. What can the public do to bring Paul and Brittney home? (00:55:23)
13. Not all debate around Brittney’s detention is in bad faith (00:57:24)
14. Key points for public to communicate to their politicians (01:02:18)
15. What news editors need to do better (01:04:52)
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