Nalvany's death leaves Canadian imprisoned in Russia concerned for prospect of freedom

The death of Russian oppo‐ sition leader Alexei Naval‐ ny in a remote penal colony last month has left Canadian citizen Paul Whe‐ lan wondering if the Krem‐ lin will ever let him walk free.

"Hearing that someone as high profile as Navalny en‐ ded up dead in a secure prison facility, it makes me wonder how safe I am," Whe‐ lan told CBC News Thursday during a phone call from the maximum security prison camp where he is serving a 16-year sentence after a Russian court convicted him on espionage charges in 2020.

Whelan, an Ottawa-born U.S. national who also holds British and Irish citizenship, is a former corporate security executive and U.S. marines veteran.

He was arrested in Moscow in December 2018 while he was in Russia to at‐ tend a friend's wedding. The 54-year-old has insisted he is innocent and was set up, while the U.S. government has fervently denied that he is a spy.

In a surprise call to CBC News foreign correspondent Briar Stewart in London, Whelan expressed hope that a deal could be reached to secure his release. But he said Navalny's death - which Western governments have blamed on the Kremlin while Russia claims it was due to natural causes - shows that the fate of high profile pris‐ oners, like him, can change in an instant.

"If the Russian govern‐ ment decided they didn't want me to leave or they wanted to pressure my four governments, they could ei‐ ther poison me, make me quite ill, stage an accident or do any number of things that could go wrong and lead to my death."

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'Cautiously optimistic' about freedom

Whelan reached out to Stew‐ art with the help of the U.S. embassy in Moscow a day af‐ ter receiving a visit from Canadian ambassador Sarah Taylor at the prison colony in Mordovia, a region southeast of Moscow. CBC News has previously attempted to in‐ terview Whelan and had passed on contact informa‐ tion through family mem‐ bers.

He told Stewart he is en‐ couraged by the support the Canadian government is pro‐ viding and for being out‐ spoken about his detention.

But he admits to being "extremely depressed" in De‐ cember when his ordeal reached the five-year mark and said he felt the U.S. gov‐ ernment "wasn't doing every‐ thing they could" to secure his release.

"I think it's high time, my governments got me home," he said.

According to Whelan, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has since reassured him that "they are working towards a release" and he's "cautiously optimistic now."

The Biden administration previously secured the re‐ lease of U.S. basketball player Brittney Griner, in a December 2022 prisoner swap for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Griner was arrested on drug smuggling charges early that year after customs agen‐ ts at Moscow's international airport found vape cartridges containing medically-pre‐ scribed hash oil in her bag‐ gage.

Although Griner's release raised hopes for a possible swap involving Whelan, he says the Russians have been "changing the goalposts since day one."

"Every time they ask for something, if our side says, 'OK, we'll do that,' they change the goalposts and they come up with some‐ thing else they want."

WATCH | Elizabeth Whe‐ lan calls on Russian foreign minister to free her broth‐ er:

Life in a labour camp

Whelan offered a view of the conditions inside the prison camp where he's detained and forced to work, making winter garments for Russian utility workers, six days a week.

"It's basically a labour camp," he said. "It's not a re‐ habilitation or correction fa‐ cility."

"The Russians always say that the poor conditions are part of the punishment, so you can just imagine what it's like," he said, describing the communal facility and mili‐ tary-like barracks where he sleeps in a room with 25 pris‐ oners, and the lack of heat and hot water - even in win‐ ter.

Even though he gets along well with other inmates around him, one prisoner at‐ tacked him in November.

A Turkish man who had recently arrived at the prison hit Whelan in the face be‐ cause he was angry about the U.S. role in the IsraelHamas war and the plight of the Palestinians. The man was later convicted of as‐ sault.

"But it's not a controlled environment at all," he said. "It really is run by the prison‐ ers."

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