11 February 2025 , 20:29
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Marc Fogel, 63, had been convicted of smuggling marijuana in to Russia and was sentenced to 14 years in prison
Marc Fogel, a Pennsylvania schoolteacher who has been held in Russia since 2021, has been released after a visit to Moscow by US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, said on Tuesday.
“Today, President Donald J. Trump and his Special Envoy Steve Witkoff are able to announce that Mr. Witkoff is leaving Russian airspace with Marc Fogel, an American who was detained by Russia,” Waltz said in a statement.
Fogel, 63, was convicted of smuggling 17 grams of marijuana into Russia in 2021 and sentenced to 14 years in prison. The Pittsburgh-area native had worked as a teacher at the Anglo-American School of Moscow since 2012 and taught overseas in countries like Oman and Malaysia.
In his statement, Waltz said that the US and Russia “negotiated an exchange that serves as a show of good faith from the Russians and a sign we are moving in the right direction to end the brutal and terrible war in Ukraine.”
He did not say what the US side of the bargain entailed. Previous negotiations have occasionally involved reciprocal releases of detainees and prisoners.
Trump has said that he has spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin but has been vague on the details other than to say he wants to secure a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
In an interview with Fox News broadcast on Monday, Trump suggested that Ukraine “may be Russian some day”, as his vice-president JD Vance gears up to meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy later this week.
In a statement, Fogel’s family said they were “beyond grateful, relieved and overwhelmed” that he was coming home.
“This has been the darkest and most painful period of our lives, but today, we begin to heal,” they said. “For the first time in years, our family can look forward to the future with hope.”
Fogel is expected to arrive in the US later on Tuesday.