Brittney Griner ‘Heartbroken’ Over Paul Whelan, Ex-Marine Imprisoned in Russia, per Agent

The WNBA star is reportedly “heartbroken” that the former U.S. Marine remains behind bars in Russia.

It has been five days since Brittney Griner was released from Russian prison after the U.S. reached a prisoner swap deal in the United Arab Emirates. The deal exchanged Griner for international arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Since arriving to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Griner has spent time with her wife, Cherelle and other family members, as well as eaten plenty of the city’s Smoke Shack barbecue and her favorite snacks. But as Griner relishes the moments with her family members that she has missed over the last 10 months, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan has weighed on her mind heavily.

Lindsay Kagawa Colas, Griner’s agent, told CNN that the 32-year-old is “heartbroken” that Whelan remains wrongfully detained in Russia. She said that the Olympic gold medalist is committed to help Whelan and other wrongfully detained Americans return to U.S. soil.

“She is thinking about his family and talked about her intention to call them as soon as she gets home,” Colas told CNN’s Anderson Cooper Tuesday. “She’s really committed to telling this story and making sure that this population of wrongfully detained Americans, that people know their names.”

Whelan was arrested in Dec. 2018 on accusations of espionage and in June 2020 was sentenced to 16 years in prison. The 52-year-old was not part of the prisoner swap that brought Griner back to U.S. soil.

Russian officials only agreed to a one-for-one swap with Griner and Bout, or nothing. Even when the U.S. proposed a one-for-one swap of Whalen and Bout, it was considered a “non-starter” with Russia viewing Whelan as a different class of prisoner.  

Griner was arrested at a Russian airport last February for having hashish oil in her luggage. She pleaded guilty in Russian court in July to the drug charges, while stating that she did not intend to break the law. She was sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony in early August and had begun serving time in a penal colony in the Mordovia region of Russia.