(CNN) – Paul Whelan, an American imprisoned in Russia for nearly five years, pressed Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone call in August to ensure he was no longer left behind, a Whelan told CNN.

“I made it clear to him that leaving me here the first time had drawn a target on my back, and that leaving me here the second time basically meant a death sentence,” said Whelan, who called CNN Friday from his camp in prisoners isolated in Mordovia. .

The former Marine said he told America’s top diplomat that “unless I’m healthy, it could be quite a challenge in the future, especially given my age and the type of work we have to do.” carried out from a health and safety point of view.

Despite his strong words to Blinken, Whelan said he was confident work was being done to secure his release, but said he was frustrated by the slow pace and wanted to make sure he wasn’t forgotten among “others geopolitical problems. He would like to speak with President Joe Biden “and find out if he will do what he said he would do.”

He is aware that the Russians consider this to be “highly valuable, so they want something of high value in return,” he said.

During their phone call in August, Blinken “told me that he was working very diligently with his team to find a solution to this situation,” Whelan said, describing the secretary of state as “a person who obviously cares and cares deeply.” on the situation. »

“I think everyone is trying to do the right thing and I know it will end at some point. How long it will take, I don’t know. But they promised me they wouldn’t leave me here,” he said.

Whelan, who is also an Irish, British and Canadian citizen, was arrested in a Moscow hotel in December 2018 by Russian authorities, who accused him of being involved in an intelligence operation. The former US Marine was sentenced to 16 years in prison in June 2020 for an espionage charge that he consistently and vehemently denies. He was designated as wrongfully detained by the United States Department of State.

Whelan was not included in the prisoner exchange that freed wrongly detained Americans Trevor Reed and Brittney Griner last year. U.S. officials said the Russians refused to include him in those exchanges, for Konstantin Yaroshenko and Viktor Bout, respectively.

Whelan said he thought it was “a mistake” for Biden to change Yaroshenko and Bout “as quickly as he did.” He also told CNN that he knew the Russians had requested the release of Vadim Krasikov, a former Russian colonel serving a life sentence in Germany for murder.

CNN reported that the Biden administration was working to pursue other offers to free Whelan after Russia failed to respond substantively to an offer made earlier this year.

“If we can’t do it based on what we have right now, we’re going to have to figure out what it takes to be able to get our people home,” a senior administration official told CNN in August.

“Secretary Blinken remains committed to bringing Paul home. “The United States has made clear that Russia’s unjust detention of Paul Whelan is outrageous and that he should be released immediately,” a State Department spokesperson told CNN on Monday.

“We have offered Russia a serious proposal for Paul’s release and we will continue to work on his case until he is reunited with his family,” the spokesperson said.

Americans should not travel to Russia ‘if they value their freedom’

Whelan warned Americans not to travel to Russia “if you value your freedom.”

“Now is not the time to come to Russia,” he said.

He told CNN that he was aware of the arrest of a Russian-American journalist, Alsou Kurmasheva, and told CNN that “it’s in the media here.”

Whelan also receives information from his family about Evan Gershkovich, an American journalist declared unjustly detained in Russia. “I don’t see anything in the news” about Gershkovich’s case, he said.

“I’m sure he goes through the same kind of rigor as me, days and days of boredom, then being interrogated and interrogated and so on, with false promises of being released after confessions and all that kind of thing. Having done it before, I know the conditions and the way they do things. “They will extend it as long as possible, to try to put pressure on him, as well as the American government, to let them do something,” he told CNN.

In his fourth exclusive call to CNN, Whelan said conditions in his isolated prison camp had deteriorated during the three years he was held there.

“The economy is not doing well and the camp needs maintenance,” he said, noting that the heat has not yet been turned on.

“We hope that some repairs to the hot water system and heating radiators will be completed quickly,” he said.

He added that the prison store no longer sells fresh fruit and vegetables and that “canned goods have been discontinued.”

“The food they give us is watery. These are onions, potatoes and cabbage. “The soups that we eat every day are just water, soggy macaroni, stale bread, things like that,” Whelan described.

Whelan was able to get a flu shot recently, he said, after requesting it during his first call with Blinken last December.

“It took time for senior officials on both sides to negotiate a flu vaccine. It is not something that is given freely and widely to prisoners. “Even the doctors here were surprised that the Department of Corrections provided it,” Whelan told CNN.