United State has secure the release of Marc Fogel, an American teacher held by Russia for three and half years for a minor medical cannabis infraction.
The former diplomat was arrested at Sheremetyevo International Airport near Moscow for illegal possession of cannabis in 2021, charged with carrying a small amount of medical marijuana, which was been prescribed in the US, and given a 14-year prison sentence.
63-year-old Fogel landed at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on Tuesday night before heading to the White House
He thanked Trump and said he was “in awe” of all of the staff members who helped secure his release, calling them as heroes.
“I want you to know that I am not a hero in this at all,” Fogel said at the White House on Tuesday night. “And President Trump is a hero. These men that came from the diplomatic service are heroes.”
His release was negotiated as part of an exchange with Russia, US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz earlier disclosed, though Russia did not comment on the release immediately.
“PROMISES MADE, PROMISES KEPT!!” the White House posted on X, with a photo showing Fogel stepping off the plane on U.S. soil.
The Russia prisoner told reporters the release was a “show of good faith” from the Russians and that it “could be a big important part” of ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“We were treated very nicely by Russia,” he said. “Actually, I hope that’s the beginning of a relationship where we can end that war and millions of people can stop being killed.”
Describing the prisoner deal with Russia as “very fair, very reasonable”, Trump said “somebody else is being released tomorrow”.
The teacher’s return home ends years of frustration voiced by Fogel’s family, who have been calling for the White House to secure his release.
“We just wanted to get him back home,” Trump said. “I had to get him back home — because I would have had big trouble with his mother.”
Fogel’s mother, Malphine “Mafa” Fogel, 95, told the news Tuesday after the release was announced: “Don’t tell Trump. He was never a Trump supporter. He will be.”
His mother credited Trump for her son’s release. She met Trump before his rally in Butler on July 13, when he was struck by gunfire, a man was killed and two spectators were injured in what federal investigators said was an assassination attempt.
Malphine Fogel said Trump told her that if he won the election, “I’ll get him out.”
“He has been instrumental,” she said.
Mr Fogel’s sister, Anne Fogel, earlier told the BBC that her brother, who was detained in Russia in 2021, was moved last Wednesday from a penal colony in Rybinsk. She said the family had known his release was a possibility but also that the negotiations were “very tenuous”.
In a statement by CBS News, 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.”
“I just want to say that I appreciate very much what they did in letting Marc go home,” Trump said.
Fogel had remained in Russian custody as U.S. authorities won freedom for other high-profile American detainees, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Marine Paul Whelan and WNBA star Brittney Griner.
Fogel’s mother said the releases of those Americans “really crushed him.”
“I worried if he’d ever get seen again,” she said Tuesday in Butler, Pennsylvania, alongside family attorney Sasha Phillips, who has worked for his freedom pro bono.
Fogel said at the White House on Tuesday night that he needed time before he could discuss the conditions of his imprisonment in detail but that they were difficult.
“There were times when it was extremely trying. There were times when I could manage it,” Fogel said. “Every second, every minute, every day had a challenge.”
Fogel’s family expressed gratitude in a statement.
“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,” it said.
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