Rand Paul Warns Russia: Not Releasing Paul Whelan Will Imperil Your Tourism Industry

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) warned Russia on Thursday that not releasing imprisoned former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan will imperil Russia’s tourism industry.

Russia returned WNBA superstar Brittney Griner to U.S. custody on Thursday in exchange for Viktor Bout, an arms dealer who was serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States. Griner was arrested in Russia in February, one week before Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, for having less than a gram of cannabis oil. Griner was sentenced to a 9-year term in a penal colony.

Despite the Biden administration’s efforts, Whelan was not included in the swap, which was reportedly reached last Thursday, as Russia reportedly was only willing to do a one-for-one deal. Whelan is serving a 16-year prison sentence on baseless charges of him being a U.S. spy.

Appearing on Fox News’ America Reports, Paul said:

I think it’s good news that the basketball player is being released. Nine years of hard labor for drug possession is a ridiculous charge. But I think also Russia needs to realize that the other gentleman’s being kept on trumped-up spy charges. What that means is particularly if he wasn’t a spy, which I don’t have any evidence that he was.

And if he was a tourist, if Russia doesn’t want Americans to visit Russia, we have a huge tourist trade, America takes our dollars all around the world. And if Russia does not want Americans to visit and they are going to arrest Americans, this hurts Russia. So, Russia needs to reconsider this. And unless I’m presented with evidence otherwise, I don’t have any evidence to believe that the young man was anything other than a tourist.

Watch above via Fox News.

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