Paul Whelan, an American imprisoned in Russia, wonders why he was abandoned.

Paul Whelan, a US citizen in prison in Russia, wonders why he was left in the prisoner swap that freed American Trevor Reed.

"Why was I abandoned? "While I am glad Trevor is home with his family, I have been detained for 40 months on fictional espionage charges," Whelan said to his parents, to CNN. "The world knows these allegations are fabricated. Why is that? isn't more being done to secure my release?"

Whelan, an American citizen and former Marine, was arrested at a Moscow hotel in December 2018 and detained on espionage charges, which he has consistently denied. Nevertheless, in a trial US official condemned as unfair, he was convicted and sentenced to 16 years in prison in June 2020.

In a separate statement Wednesday morning, the Whelan family expressed their joy at Reed's release after more than two years in Russian custody but said it was a day with "different emotions" and questions. Among these questions: why was the family not further informed of Reed's release.

Paul Whelan's sister, Elizabeth Whelan, told CNN she received the call at around 7:10 a.m. Wednesday "to let us know that Trevor is back and Paul isn't." I barely had time to warn my parents and siblings when it was all on the news," he said, adding that "he was unhappy that we were given so little time to process this bad news."

His parents were "devastated, absolutely devastated" on Wednesday and are expected to break the news to Paul Whelan, to who they spoke on Wednesday. However, she had heard about it on Russian television and was "very upset," said Elizabeth Whelan.

The Biden administration has said it will remain committed to releasing Paul Whelan and jailing Britney Greener's WNBA toy.

"I'm glad President Biden repeated his vow to bring Paul home this morning. Because otherwise, you feel like the promise you made to Paul last summer in Geneva feels empty today," said Paul's brother, Whelan David.