“Please take me home to my family and my dog Flora, where I belong.
Thank you, Mr. President, for the intention to bring me home, ”RIA Novosti is quoted as saying in the audio recording.
He declared that he was innocent and did not commit the crime of espionage.
Whelan also called his arrest "the kidnapping of an American tourist."
Earlier it was reported that the American judge, who sentenced the Russian Viktor Bout to a prison term in the United States, called it expedient to exchange him for Paul Whelan.