Washington, Feb 12 (IANS) The administration of US President Donald Trump has secured the release of Marc Fogel, an American teacher detained by Russia.
US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said on Tuesday in a statement that Fogel was flown out of Russian airspace after “an exchange” was successfully negotiated with Russia through the effort made on the US side by Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, and the President’s other advisors.
Fogel was accompanied by Witkoff, who was in Russia to finish off the exchange, BBC reported.
Offering little detail about the deal, the statement did not mention what and how many persons were given to the Russian side by the United States to swap Fogel out of Russia, saying only that the exchange “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”.
Russia did not immediately comment on the matter. However, Fogel’s sister has told the BBC of her “great relief” at his freedom.
“I plan to celebrate through the next 24 hours,” Anne Fogel said.
“We’re so happy.”
She said her brother was moved last Wednesday from a penal colony in Rybinsk, and the family knew his release was a possibility, but also that “these negotiations are very tenuous”.
He is flying into Joint Base Andrews just outside Washington DC, where he will see his wife and children, Fogel said.
In a statement obtained by CBS News, the BBC’s US news partner, his wife Jane and sons Ethan and Sam said: “This has been the darkest and most painful period of our lives, but today, we begin to heal.”
Fogel was arrested at an airport for illegal possession of cannabis in 2021, BBC reported.
He was charged with carrying a small amount of medical marijuana, which had been prescribed in the US, and given a 14-year prison sentence.
Fogel’s legal team thanked Trump for his role in the negotiation and criticised what they called the “bureaucratic inaction” of the previous Biden administration.
“President Trump secured Marc’s release in just a few weeks, wasting no time in taking decisive action to bring Marc home,” a statement from his lawyers, also sent to CBS, said.
“By tonight, Marc Fogel will be on American soil and reunited with his family and loved ones,” the statement said.
“We were treated very nicely by Russia, actually,” Trump said in the Oval Office later on Tuesday.
“I hope that’s the beginning of a relationship where we can end that war and millions of people can stop being killed.”
The President said he will meet with Fogel at the White House around 10 p.m. on Tuesday Eastern Time.
According to a previous report by CNN, Fogel, 61, had worked for nearly a decade as a history teacher at the Anglo-American School in Moscow, where children of US diplomats were among his students.
Fogel wasn’t classed by the US government as wrongfully detained until December 2024, despite beginning his sentence in 2022.
His family had tried to push former President Joe Biden to secure his release, and were left disappointed when he was left out of prisoner exchanges in 2022 and 2024.
–IANS
int/khz
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