Wrongfully detained American teacher Marc Fogel released from Russia in an ‘exchange’
President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East is leaving Russia with Marc Fogel, an American teacher who was jailed in Russia and deemed “wrongfully detained” by the United States, according to a Tuesday statement from national security adviser Mike Waltz, AmericanDiary24 reports via CNN.
Waltz said an “exchange” was made but did not specify what it entailed, adding that it was a show of “good faith” from the Russians and a step in the right direction toward ending the war in Ukraine.
Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is leaving Russian airspace with Fogel, who was detained in 2021, Waltz said.
“President Trump, Steve Witkoff and the President’s advisors 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. … By tonight, Marc Fogel will be on American soil and reunited with his family and loved ones thanks to President Trump’s leadership,” Waltz said in a statement.
As CNN previously reported, Fogel, 61, 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.
He was arrested in August 2021 at an airport in Moscow after he was found carrying cannabis. He had traveled into the country with about 17 grams of cannabis, which his family and lawyer said was recommended by a doctor to treat “severe spinal pain.”
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