Marc Fogel, a former US embassy employee and schoolteacher, completed a 14-year prison sentence in Russia for drug trafficking.
The White House announced Tuesday that the United States secured the release of Marc Fogel, a former diplomat and educator, after negotiations involving President Donald Trump’s advisors. Fogel had received a 14-year prison sentence in 2022 on drug trafficking charges.
Reports on Tuesday morning indicated that a private jet belonging to US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff landed in Moscow. Later, RIA Novosti observed US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracey at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“President Donald J. Trump and his Special Envoy Steve Witkoff are pleased to announce that Mr. Witkoff is departing Russia with Marc Fogel, an American citizen previously detained by Russia,” stated US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. Waltz added that Trump, Witkoff, and other presidential advisors negotiated Fogel’s release as part of “an exchange.”
Moscow has yet to provide an official statement.
Waltz described Fogel’s release as a “gesture of goodwill from Russia, indicating progress towards resolving the … conflict in Ukraine.”
Fogel, who taught at an Anglo-American school in Moscow and had previously worked at the US embassy, lost his diplomatic immunity in May 2021. He was apprehended at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport in August 2021, where authorities discovered marijuana and hashish oil concealed within his belongings, according to TASS.
Russian investigators alleged that Fogel attempted to establish a drug smuggling operation into the country, leading to his 14-year sentence.