Former US Marine Paul Whelan cheekily posed for a selfie outside the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC — nearly seven weeks after being freed from a Russian prison on espionage charges.
The sassy selfie seemingly mocking Russia was captioned, “International Spy Museum, Washington DC” and posted to Whelan’s X account Wednesday afternoon.
Whelan, 45, became the subject of international scrutiny when Russian authorities arrested him for suspicion of espionage in December 2018 while he was visiting the country for a friend’s wedding. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison in June 2020, following a closed-door trial that was widely criticized by international leadership.
During the proceedings – which he followed with the help of an interpreter – Whelan held up a paper sign denouncing the trial as a “sham.”
“This is slimy, greasy, grubby Russian politics. Nothing more. Nothing less,” he lamented.
The Michigan security executive spent over five years imprisoned in Russia — and continued to languish behind bars when other prisoners, including WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was caught by Russian authorities with traces of cannabis oil in her luggage, were released.
Because Russia considered Whelan an American agent, the Kremlin refused to swap him unless they received a prisoner of similar stature.
Whelan was finally returned to the US on Aug. 1 when he, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, 32, and radio journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, 47, were released as part of a multi-country deal — the largest prisoner swap since the Cold War.
Whelan credited his family’s frequent “harsh words” for the government for “having kept them accountable for taking care of us.”
“Paul was held hostage for 2,043 days. His case was that of an American in peril, held by the Russian Federation as part of their blighted initiative to use humans as pawns to extract concessions,” the Whelans said in a statement at the time.
“Our family is grateful to the United States government for making Paul’s freedom a reality,” the Whelans’ statement read.
Whelan was one of over 20 prisoners released as part of the historic prisoner exchange between Russia and the West.
“It didn’t feel real until we were flying over England,” Whelan said at the time of his release.
“As we came over England and I looked down, that’s when it became real,” Whelan said of his first hours of freedom.
Whelan and the other prisoners were exchanged at the airport in Ankara, Turkey.
Shortly after the swap, he, Gershkovich and Kurmasheva were pictured holding an American flag.
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