Timeline of Michigan resident Paul Whelan's detention in a Russian prison

Paul Whelan of Novi has been in Russian custody for nearly five years, with U.S. officials calling his detention wrongful and demanding his release.

The following is a timeline of Whelan's imprisonment, starting with his arrest in Moscow in late 2018:

Dec. 28, 2018: Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine and corporate security director with Michigan-based auto supplier BorgWarner, is arrested by agents from Russia’s Federal Security Service in a Moscow hotel room, and he is held in the notorious Lefortovo Prison. His family says he was in town for a friend's wedding.

Jan. 11, 2019: Russian Foreign Ministry officially confirms that Whelan was charged withespionage and dismisses suggestions that he could be swapped for convicted unregistered Russian agent Maria Butina or other Russians in U.S. custody, saying he'll stand trial on spying charges. 

Jan. 22, 2019: Whelan is denied bail in the first of a series of his detention being extended by the Russian courts. Through his lawyers, Whelan denies the allegations against him and claims he was framed when he was handed a flash drive with classified information on it of which he had no knowledge.

June 20, 2019: In court, Whelan appeals to President Donald Trump to intervene in his case and “defend” him. “Mr. President, we cannot keep America great unless we aggressively protect American citizens wherever they are in the world,” Whelan said, reading a statement in Moscow court. He also said he was a victim of “political kidnapping.”

Oct. 22, 2019: The U.S. House unanimously approves a resolution urging Russia to produce “credible” evidence against Whelan or “immediately” release him after nearly 10 months in custody. 

Dec. 18, 2019: Whelan's employer in Michigan, auto supplier BorgWarner in Auburn Hills, eliminates his job as director of global security for the auto parts supplier, saying it was part of a corporate restructuring. The termination comes just before the one-year anniversary of Whelan's arrest.

Jan. 30, 2020: The new U.S. ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan, calls for Russia to release Whelan after visiting him in Lefortovo Prison in Moscow.

"Investigators have shown no evidence — zero," Sullivan tweets, calling Whelan's treatment "shameful." "What we need in #PaulWhelan’s case — where there is no evidence and clearly no crime — is to have him released as soon as possible. It’s time for this nightmare to end, and for Paul to go home.”

May 29, 2020: Whelan is taken to Sklifosovsky hospital and undergoes emergency hernia surgery after experiencing severe abdominal pain. 

June 15, 2020: The Moscow City Court convicts Whelan of espionage and sentences him to 16 years in a maximum security prison colony. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he's "outraged" by Whelan's sentence and calls his treatment "appalling." 

Whelan says in court that the case is a sham and the charges fabricated for political ends. "This is slimy, greasy corrupt Russian politics. Nothing more, nothing less."

June 23, 2020: Whelan declines to appeal his sentence, saying he has no faith in the Russian courts and is hopeful that a deal will be made to exchange him for Russians held in the U.S. 

August 2020: Whelan is transferred to prison camp IK-17 in the region of Mordovia, about 350 kilometers (210 miles) east of Moscow.

Nov. 10, 2020: From his prison camp, Whelan tells ABC News in an interview that he's optimistic the Russian and American governments will quickly work out a deal to release him from prison.

"I think it's a bit of an embarrassment for the Russian government because they've by now figured out that they've made a mistake," Whelan says. "Like I said, you know, Mr. Bean being abducted on holiday. I don't think this is a situation they want going longer than it needs to."

June 16, 2021: After a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva, President Joe Biden says he raised the situations of two "wrongfully imprisoned" Americans, Whelan and Trevor Reed of Texas.

"The families of the detained Americans I have hope for," Biden tells reporters as he left a news conference after the summit. "It came up, and we discussed it. We're going to follow through with that discussion. I am not going to walk away on that."

July 23, 2021: The U.S. Senate unanimously passes a bipartisan resolution calling for Whelan's release.

Early August, 2021: Whelan is released from a month-long stay in solitary confinement at the IK-17 penal colony in the region of Mordovia, where he is forced to work six days a week at a prison garment factory. Whelan had initially been sent to a medical facility to treat a cough and bursitis in his elbow and upon returning to the prison, was put in solitary confinement for "having food in a bag," his brother said.

April 27, 2022: Whelan says he feels "left behind" after U.S. government agrees to a prisoner swap that results in the release of American Trevor Reed, who had been held by Russia for less time than Whelan but had serious health issues.

Reed, who was detained in August 2019, is let go in exchange for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who had been serving a 20-year sentence in the U.S. for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine.

“Why was I left behind? While I am pleased Trevor is home with his family, I have been held on a fictitious charge of espionage for 40 months,” Whelan says in a statement released through his parents. “The world knows this charge was fabricated. Why hasn't more been done to secure my release?”

Also on this date, the U.S. House unanimously approves a bipartisan resolution calling for the Russian government to release Whelan. 

May 4, 2022: Outside the White House, Whelan's sister, Elizabeth, publicly presses for a meeting Biden in the wake of Reed's release. She had put in four requests to meet with Biden. 

"We know that it takes that presidential level of attention to get these cases solved because some of the decisions made and the tools used require that level of input," Elizabeth said.

July 9, 2022: Biden calls Whelan's sister, Elizabeth, and reaffirms that he is committed to bringing him home "as soon as possible" from Russia.

The call came after the family's outcry that Biden had earlier in the week phoned the wife of WNBA star Brittney Griner but did not also call the Whelans, who had been seeking an audience with Biden for months. The Whelans suggest the attention on Griner is due to her celebrity.

July 27, 2022: Secretary of State Antony Blinken announces that the U.S. in recent weeks made a "substantial proposal" to Russia in an attempt to bring home Whelan and WNBA star Brittney Griner.

Blinken also says he requested to speak with his Kremlin counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, for the first time since before Russia invaded Ukraine five months earlier, in part to seek an answer to the offer.

July 29, 2022: Blinken says he spoke with Lavrov and "pressed" the Kremlin to accept the U.S. offer that would bring American prisoners Whelan and Griner home. Blinken declined to share the response he received from Lavrov but said they had a "frank and direct conversation." 

"I'm not going to characterize his response, and I can't give you an assessment of whether I think things are any more or less likely, but it was important that he heard directly from me on that," Blinken said. 

Aug. 11, 2022: Russia confirms for the first time that negotiations on a prisoner exchange were underway, after the U.S. proposed a deal to release Griner and Whelan.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said talks were underway through a channel that Biden and Putin set up when they met in Geneva in 2021.

Sept. 16, 2022: Biden meets privately with Elizabeth Whelan at the White House to provide an update on U.S. government efforts to secure her brother's release.

On this same day, Paul on a phone call tells his parents in Michigan that he was being transferred back to the prison hospital at IK-21, though he did not request the medical attention, according to a family statement.

Dec. 8, 2022: Russia agrees to release WNBA star Brittney Griner in a high-profile exchange for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, leaving Whelan in a Russian prison. Griner is a two-time Olympic gold medalist whose monthslong imprisonment on drug charges brought high-profile attention to the wrongful detention of Americans abroad.

Whelan's brother, David, said his family understood the Biden administration had to make a one-for-one trade with the Russians.

"The Biden administration made the right decision to bring Ms. Griner home, and to make the deal that was possible, rather than waiting for one that wasn't going to happen," David Whelan wrote Thursday in a statement.

Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken both vowed to get Whelan released.

"Despite our ceaseless efforts, the Russian government has not yet been willing to bring a long overdue end to his wrongful detention," Blinken said in a statement. "I wholeheartedly wish we could have brought Paul home today on the same plane with Brittney. Nevertheless, we will not relent in our efforts to bring Paul and all other U.S. nationals held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad home to their loved ones where they belong."

More:Why getting Whelan freed from Russia is proving harder than Griner

March 29: Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is arrested in Yekaterinburg, Russia on espionage charges for allegedly trying to obtain classified information about a Russian arms factory. The Journal denied the espionage allegations leveled against Gershkovich, a reporter in the newspaper's Moscow bureau.

April 17: The Whelan family publicly criticizes the Biden administration's handling of their brother's detention in Russia, saying they believe the State Department is prioritizing cases where detainees or their loved ones have the resources to generate "notoriety " ― a reference to the cases of Griner, a star WNBA player, and Gershkovich, a journalist for an international news outlet.

"It is the U.S. government's duty to bring Paul home," David Whelan said in a statement. "If the U.S. government is pulling its punches at the expense of some of its citizens, it should stop doing so."

April 25: Biden's United Nations ambassador publicly confronted Russia's chief diplomat for his country's "barbaric" imprisonment of Whelan during a U.N. Security Council meeting in New York that Whelan's sister Elizabeth attended.

In a brief moment of international drama, Elizabeth Whelan stood in the gallery inside U.N. Security Council's chambers and was recognized by Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, with Russia's minister for foreign affairs, Sergey Lavrov, in the room.

“I am calling on you, right now, to release Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich immediately, to let Paul and Evan come home," Thomas-Greenfield said to Lavrov, "and to cease this barbaric practice once and for all."

May 21: Whelan tells CNN in a telephone interview from his Russian prison camp that he remains "positive and confident on a daily basis that the wheels are turning" in the State Department's efforts to get his released.

"I have been told that I won’t be left behind, and I have been told that although Evan’s case is a priority, mine is also a priority, and people are cognizant of the fact that this is having an extremely negative impact on me and my family," Whelan said, referencing Evan Gershkovich.

Sept. 14: Elizabeth Whelan makes her 24th trip to Washington to press federal officials about securing the release of her brother. She didn't get the meeting at the White House with Biden that she had requested.

Nov. 28: Paul Whelan is attacked in his Russian prison. Other prisoners intervened and stopped the attack from escalating further.

Dec. 8: The Whelan family releases a blistering statement they say Paul Whelan dictated to his parents by phone from his Russian prison that criticized the Biden administration for not doing enough to secure his release. Whelan says he has lost hope he'll ever see his elderly parents in Manchester, Mich. again and that he fears his life is "destined to end in a slave labor camp." "I've been promised that the United States is coming for me," Whelan wrote. "I hope that happens before it's too late."

Dec. 14: Russian President Vladimir Putin says during a year-end news conference that he wants to reach an agreement to release Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich but "it's not easy."

mburke@detroitnews.com