Russia releases American schoolteacher Marc Fogel after unannounced visit by US special envoy

Russia freed American schoolteacher Marc Fogel on Tuesday after an unexpected visit to Moscow by US special envoy Steve Witkoff, and he was on his way to the White House, according to President Donald Trump.

The release of 63-year-old Fogel, who had been held in Russia since August 2021 and was serving a 14-year term, comes as Trump wants to strengthen relations with Moscow as part of an effort to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.

Trump told reporters that Fogel will visit the White House when he returned to the United States late Tuesday, and White House national security advisor Mike Waltz said he would also be reunited with his family, who were overjoyed at the news.

In a photo uploaded on social media by Trump’s main hostage envoy Adam Boehler, Fogel, who is from Pennsylvania, is seen on an aircraft with a raised glass, a cheese plate, and his US passport.

When asked what the US gave up in exchange for Fogel, Trump replied, “Not much,” and described the release as a demonstration of good faith on the part of the Russians.

“We were treated very nicely by Russia. Actually, I hope that’s the beginning of a relationship where we can end that (Ukraine) war and millions of people can stop being killed,” Trump said.

Fogel was sentenced to 14 years in prison for drug smuggling after he was detained in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport in August 2021 with 17 grams of marijuana - which he said was for medical use - in his luggage.

“We are beyond grateful, relieved, and overwhelmed that after more than three years of detention, our father, husband, and son, Marc Fogel, is finally coming home," the Fogel family said in a statement.

“This has been the darkest and most painful period of our lives, but today, we begin to heal.”

Fogel’s Russian lawyer Dmitry Ovsyannikov confirmed the release to state news agency RIA.

“For the moment, we don’t know on what grounds he was released from where he was serving time – a pardon or something else,” Ovsyannikov told TASS.

He told Russia’s Interfax news agency that Fogel was last week transferred from a prison in Rybinsk, north of Moscow, to a pre-trial detention center in Moscow ahead of his release.

Fogel was left out of a historic swap of prisoners in August that involved 24 prisoners - 16 sent from Russia to the West, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and eight sent back to Russia from the West.

Trump has indicated he has spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin but has been vague on the details other than to say he is insistent on ending the three-year-old Ukraine war.

“We’re making good progress there. I think, I really think we’re making some very good progress,” Trump told reporters about Ukraine on Tuesday.