Whelan says he passed on information to Western officials that he received from fellow prisoners fighting in Ukraine

CNN
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Paul Whelan, the American who was wrongfully imprisoned in Russia for five and a half years, revealed Sunday that he had passed on information he received from fellow prisoners fighting for Russia on the front lines in Ukraine to Western officials.

“The prisoners from the camp who went to the front had communication. And they would communicate with us. And I forwarded the communication from them to the four governments,” Whelan said on CBS's “Face the Nation,” referring to the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Ireland – the four countries of which he is a citizen .

Whelan added that he and others were able to communicate with former prisoners using “burner” phones that they were able to purchase even at the Russian labor camp in Mordovia.

“About illegal cell phones,” Whelan said. “Yes, we had burner phones.”

Whelan added that guards “looked the other way” in exchange for goods such as cigarettes.

“A Russian prison guard earns three or four hundred dollars a month. “You give him a pack of cigarettes and you can do pretty much whatever you want,” Whelan added.

During his years in prison, consular officials from the four governments met regularly with Whelan to check on him and update him on efforts to secure his release.

Whelan said 450 prisoners from his camp went into combat as part of recruiting efforts by mercenary groups such as the Wagner Group, which recruited tens of thousands of prisoners from prisons across Russia to fight in Ukraine to support Russia's brutal invasion be. His camp consists mostly of young men from Central Asian countries such as Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, Whelan said.

“450 came from my camp. I knew them all. Some of them are dead. Some are missing arms and legs. They all have some form of post-traumatic stress disorder. You have had a traumatic experience,” he said. “They were used at the front to walk through minefields. They were used as cannon fodder. They would be sent out in front of patrols to try to draw enemy fire. That's what Russia is doing to these people. And they are all young. Putin is throwing away a generation of his youth in Ukraine for nothing.”

Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, was released earlier this year as part of a comprehensive prisoner swap between the United States and Russia. As part of the historic swap, which was the result of years of complicated behind-the-scenes negotiations with the United States, a total of eight people were returned to the Kremlin in exchange for the release of 16 people who were in Russian custody, including four Americans, Russia and Germany.

CNN's Jennifer Hansler contributed to this report.