(Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had spoken on Thursday to the sister of Paul Whelan, the ex-U.S. Marine who is being detained in Russia, on the same day that a prisoner swap releasing U.S. basketball player Brittney Griner was announced.
“I spoke to his sister, Elizabeth Whelan, a short while ago. I have to say the Whelan family is remarkable,” Blinken told CBS News.
(Reporting by Costas Pitas in Los Angeles; Editing by Leslie Adler)