The sister of Paul Whelan, a former US marine who has been detained in Russia since 2018, on Monday spoke out against countries engaging in “hostage diplomacy”.
Elizabeth Whelan appeared at the UN before a Security Council meeting on multilateralism, led by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
“I am here today to tell the global community that one way to engage in effective multilateralism is to confront those countries that resort to hostage diplomacy,” Ms Whelan said.
“This is not the work of a mature and responsible nation; it is the action of a terrorist state.”
Ms Whelan was joined by Washington’s top UN envoy Linda Thomas-Greenfield, as well as the Canadian ambassador to the UN, Bob Rae. Mr Whelan is an American and Canadian citizen as well as a citizen of the UK and Ireland.
Ms Thomas-Greenfield told reporters that it was “impossible to ignore the giant elephant in the room — Russia”.
Facing Mr Lavrov, she made a direct plea to him to release Mr Whelan as well as detained US journalist Evan Gershkovich.
“Using people as pawns is a strategy of weakness,” she said, urging Mr Lavrov to look into the eyes of Ms Whelan, who was in the gallery of the chamber, and “see her suffering”.
The US ambassador said President Joe Biden's administration has made a proposal for Mr Whelan’s release and urged Moscow to “move on that proposal”.
“There is a human cost to Russia’s violation of international norms, to its barbaric practice of using people as political pawns. That cost is borne by those detained, but also by their family and friends, as Paul’s sister — here with me today — can attest to,” she said.
Mr Whelan, who once worked as a security contractor, was in Moscow for a friend's wedding when he was arrested in 2018. He was convicted on espionage charges in 2020 and is serving a 16-year sentence in a high-security prison.
He has been designated by Washington as wrongfully detained.
The Biden administration was unable to secure Mr Whelan’s release last year when it brought home two other Americans, Trevor Reed and Brittney Griner.
