US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday accused Moscow of using US citizens as “political pawns” on the fifth anniversary of Paul Whelan’s imprisonment in Russia. “December 28 marks five years since Russian authorities wrongfully detained U.S. citizen Paul Whelan,” Blinken said in a statement. Blinken said that, following “a secret trial behind closed doors,” Whelan “spent years laboring in a Russian penal colony” where he has “faced assault from other prisoners and harassment from Russian state-run media.” The US citizen was convicted of alleged espionage in 2018. “For far too long,…