Paul Whelan: US officials to hold meetings on bringing home ex-marine

Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Ex-marine Paul Whelan has been jailed in Russia since 2020 on charges of spyingBy Madeline HalpertBBC News, Washington

US officials are meeting on Monday to discuss steps on how to free ex-US Marine Paul Whelan from Russian custody, according to a US envoy.

President Joe Biden is under pressure to bring Whelan home following the release of Brittney Griner.

The WNBA player was freed last week in exchange for the release of convicted weapons trafficker Viktor Bout.

Russian and US officials have since signalled their openness to future prisoner swaps.

"Paul is going to be phase number two," US special envoy for hostage affairs Roger Carstens told US outlet MSNBC on Sunday. "We're working hard. We're coming up with different ways to do this.

Whelan – a Michigan native who was arrested in Moscow in 2018 – has expressed disappointment with the US government for not doing more to free him.

Whelan's brother David told Reuters he was aware of the planned meeting, saying: "It's great that the White House is not letting any grass grow under their feet".

US officials have said they sought to include him in the prisoner swap, but the choice came down to the release of Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) star Griner, or no one.

Mr Carstens was on the plane home with Griner after her 10 months in Russian custody. She touched down in the US on Friday and was taken for evaluation at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.

Mr Carstens told CNN Griner was in good spirits and good physical health upon boarding the plane back to the US, describing the two-time Olympic gold medallist as "intelligent", "compassionate" and "humble".

Griner greeted every member of the plane crew and wanted to speak for most of the 18-hour flight, he said.

"We talked about everything under the sun," Mr Carstens told CNN.

The basketball star "spoke at length" about her time in a Russian penal colony, he added.

Griner also made her return to the basketball court in Texas on Sunday, her agent told US media outlet ESPN.

On the court at the US army post, Griner sported a Title IX shirt – a reference to the US federal law barring discrimination in education based on gender – and a pair of black Chuck Taylor shoes, according to her agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas.

Her first move was a dunk, Ms Colas said.

Griner doesn't have any immediate plans to leave the US army post where she and her wife Cherelle have been staying, her agent told the sports network. Ms Colas said it was too soon to say whether Griner would return to play for her Phoenix Mercury basketball team.

"If she wants to play, it will be for her to share. She has the holidays to rest and decide what's next," Ms Colas said, adding Griner was doing "really well" and had endured her time in Russia "in pretty incredible ways".