The Biden administration “has put forward a serious proposal” to Moscow that would release detained American citizen Paul Whelan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday.

Blinken brought up Whelan's name in a brief conversation with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in India, which was their first in-person interaction since before Russian forces invaded Ukraine more than a year ago.

FOUR YEARS LATER, BROTHER SPEAKS OUT ON PAUL WHELAN'S IMPRISONMENT IN RUSSIA

“I also raised the wrongful detention of Paul Whelan as I have on many previous occasions. The United States has put forward a serious proposal. Moscow should accept it. We're determined to bring Paul and every other American citizen who is unjustly detained around the world home. We won't rest until we do," Blinken said later, according to CNN.

Whelan was arrested in late 2018 under espionage allegations while in Russia for a wedding. He, his family, and the U.S. government have denounced it as false. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison in June 2020.

David Whelan, Paul's brother, said in a statement to the Washington Examiner that his brother "will be glad to hear that Secretary Blinken continues to advocate for Paul's freedom in a brief conversation with Foreign Minister Lavrov at the G-20," adding, "There have been three constants in the past few years. The first is the Biden administration's advocacy for Paul's release, sometimes publicly, sometimes not. Secretary Blinken's interaction with Foreign Minister Lavrov only highlights this ongoing activity. Our family is grateful that the Secretary of State took this high-profile, rare opportunity to include Paul's freedom in his discussions with Kremlin representatives."

"His story is a geo-political hostage-taking and involves the U.S. trying to rescue its citizen from another nation," David added. "But it is also about an individual human. So for all the statecraft and stonewalling, our brother languishes for another birthday and however many more milestones as a Russian hostage. We hope that Paul will be coming home soon."

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The Biden administration agreed to two prisoner swaps last year, one that returned Trevor Reed last April and another that returned Brittney Griner this past December. However, Whelan was excluded from both deals. U.S. officials said after Griner's release that the Kremlin did not make Whelan available in any possible swap and that they view his detention differently given the espionage charge, despite the spurious charges.

"It has to do with the nature of the sham charges against him, which were based on espionage. That is the hook that the Russians seem to have in him. And we’re just not able to deal with him the same way that we were able to deal with Mr. [Trevor] Reed or, in this case, with Ms. Griner," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in December.