paul whelans detainment in russia has passed 1500 days and his brother david whelan is urging people not to give up on him president joe biden focused on the domestic agenda during his state of the union address tuesday and did not mention paul whelan who was convicted to 16 years in a russian prison in june 2020 on spying charges which the former marine has always denied david whelan told abc news lives linsey davis that he was not disappointed that there was not a mention of his brother as the us is grappling with many issues involving the kremlin however david whelan continued to call for his brothers release linsey davis former marine paul whelan who has been held in a russia prison for 1500 days now his brother david joins us now david thank you so much for coming on the show always appreciate you joining us were you disappointed that the president didnt include any mention of your brother or other detainees david whelan no pauls the only wrongful detainee american in russia and although its an important case to us i realize that its a smaller issue among all of the other issues that the american government has with the kremlin right now so i would have been very surprised for paul to come up in this june 15 2020 file photo paul whelan a former us marine accused of espionage and arrested in russia in december 2018 stands inside a defendants cage as he show more kirill kudryavtsevafp via getty images file more family of paul whelan former marine held in russia worried after communication cut off davis of course there was some hope that paul would be released along with brittney griner back in december what can you tell us about the current status of the negotiations for his release whelan well the state department has taken a 180 it has gone very quiet in its attempts to bring paul home last autumn and summer it was much more vocal talking about what it was trying to do theyve gone very quiet and so were really waiting to see what theyre up to what success they might have and well keep our fingers crossed davis when was the last time you had a chance to talk to your brother whelan my parents spoke to him yesterday and he seems as well as you can be the hot water has been turned off in the prisons for the last few weeks so no ones been able to shower or use hot water theyve had to boil their own water for drinking and things like that so its a rough life its surviving its not living but he seems to be doing as well as he can davis as we noted its now been 1500 days more than four years hows the family holding up how are you how are your parents whelan well i mean you get tired obviously its been a long time