Freed American Paul Whelan describes being imprisoned in Russia as ‘absolute nonsense’

Oliver Browning

Freed American prisoner Paul Whelan described being imprisoned in Russia as “absolute nonsense by the Russian government.”

He made those comments early on Friday 2 August after he, along with journalist Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, arrived at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.

The three Americans were part of the biggest US-Russian prisoner swap in post-Soviet history, a trade which follows years of back-channel negotiations despite relations between Washington and Moscow being at their lowest point since the Cold War after Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.

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