'I counted each' day: Resiliency got him through years in Russian prison, Paul Whelan says

WASHINGTON — For the five and a half years he spent imprisoned in Russia, Michigan's Paul Whelan relied on a sense of resiliency he learned from his parents, who grew up in England during World War II, he said.

"So when the Russians abducted me from my hotel room, I just put that same sort of resiliency into action, and I went toe to toe with them," Whelan said. "They were probably glad to see me leave, to be quite honest. But here I am, and I'm starting a new chapter of my life."

Whelan spoke briefly with reporters Tuesday night outside the U.S. Capitol just over six weeks after his return to the United States on Aug. 1 as part of a massive multi-country prisoner swap.

He had spent the day meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. It was Whelan's first opportunity to thank many of the them in person for their work advocating for his freedom.

Whelan was greeted Tuesday night by most of Michigan's House delegation, who shook his hand and took a photo with him on the House steps after votes wrapped up. They held a big blue sign: "Welcome Home Paul!"

"There was a bipartisan effort that brought me home — congressmen, congresswomen, senators from both parties, from every state — were involved in this effort to get me back, and I'd like to say thank you to them, as well as all the people that work for agencies that I will never meet, people that I will never know," Whelan said.

"I want to get that that out publicly, so that they know how appreciative I am, how appreciative my parents, my family are. You know, it was five years, seven months and five days. I counted each one of them. The last five days I was in solitary confinement. I couldn't leave my cell, but I made it home."

While on vacation in Russia, the former security executive from Novi was arrested in Moscow on Dec. 28, 2018, on what he and U.S. officials decried as bogus espionage charges. Convicted in a closed-door trial in 2020, the former U.S. Marine was sentenced to 16 years of hard labor that he was serving at a labor camp in remote Mordovia, toiling in an unheated garment factory.

U.S. officials had long deemed Whelan wrongfully detained, a political hostage. He and his family were deeply disappointed when he was left behind in Russia as part of two U.S.-Russian prisoner exchanges in 2022 for basketball star Brittney Griner and former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed; both had been held for shorter periods.

Whelan said he spoke to lawmakers Tuesday in part about how the next returned detainee's experience could be improved after they come home and how the government can better support them.

"You know, the care and support that other people might need, especially people that are in a worse situation," Whelan said. "There are people coming back that lived in the dirt without shoes for three years. People that were locked up in hideous conditions for 20 years. So we're discussing the sorts of support that could be available."

After his return, Whelan spent about 19 days in San Antonio in a specialized program at Brooke Army Medical Center and Fort Sam Houston that provides medical care and other support to Americans who spent time in isolation and are reintegrating into society.

U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Birmingham, emphasized that Whelan lost more than five years of earnings and retirement savings in addition to his home and job in Michigan while held by Russia.

Lawmakers are looking to pass legislation that has been introduced to protect the Social Security benefits of those held hostage abroad and to end fines and penalties by the Internal Revenue Service on wrongful detainees for late tax payments while they're being held, Stevens said.

"We're very focused on the aftermath," said Stevens, who took on advocating for Whelan's case shortly after she was elected to Congress in 2018.

"There's absolutely more to do in terms of not just the readjustment but justice and making this right. Because you get this special (wrongful detainee) designation when you're over there. Well, where's the special designation when you get back in terms of things like buying an automobile and a driver's license and reacclimating?"

Whelan met Tuesday with Stevens, as well as U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing; Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint Township; and Idaho Sen. Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as well as New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat and senior member of the panel who chairs the Europe and Regional Security Cooperation Subcommittee.

Whelan was also expected to meet this week with Sen. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, and Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, who for several years represented Whelan's parents, Ed and Rosemary of Manchester, in Congress.

Whelan posted on X on Wednesday morning that he was also visiting the White House.

Whelan's message for those who remain detained overseas like Mark Fogel, a schoolteacher held in Russia since 2021, is: "We're coming for you."

"The United States is not going to let people like me, Mark, Trevor, Brittney languish in foreign prisons," Whelan said. "It might take time, but we're coming for everybody else."

Asked about the most surprising part of readjusting back to his life in the states, Whelan referred to navigating his iPhone 15 Pro and encountering technologies like electric vehicles and driverless cars.

"I was in a really remote part of Russia. I used to call it Camp Lost in the Woods," he said. "The Russians said the poor conditions were part of the punishment. And coming back to see this sort of thing now is a bit of a shock, but it's a good shock."

Now that he's back in Michigan, he's focused on rebuilding his life and "minutiae" like getting a new car.

"I have some plans. We'll see what materializes. But for now, I'm just kind of getting back into the swing of things, getting adjusted with my parents, getting things in line, just personally. But, yeah, it's great to be back."

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