Marc Fogel, a former US embassy employee, had been sentenced to 14 years behind bars in Russia on drug trafficking charges
Russia has released US national Marc Fogel following negotiations with advisors of President Donald Trump’s, the White House announced on Tuesday. Fogel, a former schoolteacher and US diplomat, was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2022 on drug trafficking charges.
“Today, President Donald J. Trump and his Special Envoy Steve Witkoff are able to announce that Mr. Witkoff is leaving Russian airspace with Marc Fogel, an American who was detained by Russia,” the US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said in a statement, adding that Trump, Witkoff and some other presidential advisors negotiated his release as part of “an exchange.”
Moscow has not commented on the development so far.
Waltz praised Fogel’s release as a “show of good faith from the Russians and a sign we are moving in the right direction to end the … war in Ukraine.”
— Mike Waltz (@MikeWaltz47) February 11, 2025
Fogel was a teacher at an Anglo-American school in Moscow and had also previously been on staff at the US embassy in Russia. He lost his diplomatic immunity in May 2021. In August of the same year, he was detained at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow and was found in possession of marijuana and hashish oil. The banned substances were allegedly carefully concealed and hidden in his personal belongings, TASS reported at the time.
Russian investigators accused him of attempting to establish a drug trafficking route into the country. He was sentenced to 14 years behind bars.
