Cnn
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The Trump administration obtained the release of Marc Fogel, an American teacher detained for more than three years in Russia, in an “exchange”, the White House announced on Tuesday.
The agreement to release Fogel, who was appointed to be wrongly detained by the United States Department of State, was negotiated by President Donald Trump, special envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff, “and advisers of the president”, According to a press release from the Mike Valse National Security Advisor.
The declaration has provided no details on “exchange”, saying that it was “a demonstration of good faith of the Russians and a sign that we are going in the right direction to end the brutal and terrible war in Ukraine”. The National Security Council refused to offer other details.
“We were very well treated by Russia, in fact,” said Trump in the oval office Tuesday later. “I hope this is the beginning of a relationship where we can end this war and that millions of people can stop being killed.” The president said he would meet Fogel at the White House around 10 p.m. he.
In an extraordinary decision, Witkoff went personally to Russia to bring Fogel, said Waltz’s declaration. There was no high -level trip known in Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022.
Witkoff, who is the Middle East Middle East envoy and had not known official relations with Russia, was partly involved because he has exploited relations in the Middle East to continue the agreement, according to Two people informed of the discussions.
Witkoff has traveled the region in recent months, working on the Gaza ceasefire agreement, notably in Qatar, a main mediator. Doha was involved in the aid to Witkoff and the administration with the Tuesday exchange agreement thanks to Qataris introductions to the Russian intermediaries, the informed people said.
“By this evening, Marc Fogel will be on American soil and will bring his family and relatives together thanks to the management of President Trump,” said the Waltz statement.
Fogel’s family said on Tuesday that they “was more than grateful, relieved and exceeded than after more than three years of detention”, he returned home.
“Thanks to President Trump’s unshakable management, Marc will soon be back on American soil, free where he belongs,” Jane, Ethan and Sam Fogel said in a statement. “It was the darkest and most painful period of our life, but today we are starting to heal.”
Fogel’s sister Anne Fogel told Erin Burnett de CNN on “Outfront” that his wife and children were heading for Texas to see him on Wednesday because of a winter storm in Washington, DC. She said that the family was informed last week that her brother had been moved from a prison in Rybinsk, so they “knew something was going on” and was waiting with anxiety.
“We are really jubilant. And we celebrate, ”said Anne Fogel.
![Adam Boehler shared a photo of Marc Fogel on a plane after being released by Russia on February 11, 2025.](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/marc-fogel.jpg?q=w_256,c_fill)
Trump’s choice for the special envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, published a “real-time photo” of Marc Fogel returning to the United States, holding an American passport and raising a drink. “I’m sure it was a tape,” said his sister.
Fogel worked for almost a decade as a history teacher at the Anglo-American school in Moscow, where the children of American diplomats were among his students.
He was arrested in August 2021 at a Moscow airport after being found bearing cannabis. He had traveled in the country with around 17 grams of cannabis, which, according to his family and the lawyer, was recommended by a doctor to treat “severe vertebral pain”.
In June 2022, he was found guilty before a court just outside Moscow for having committed “large -scale drug trafficking” and to have a 14 -year sentence in a Russian hard labor camp. The same court held the trial of the WNBA owned Brittney Griner, who was released in an exchange of prisoners in December 2022.
Fogel was not included in several exchanges of prisoners under the Biden administration, one in August which saw the release of journalist Evan Gershkovich and former Navy Paul Whelan.
Fogel’s family had expressed profound concerns about his health, telling CNN in July 2022 that his prison sentence was “a death sentence for him”. The American government had asked Russia to release Fogel for humanitarian grounds because of its age and chronic back pain.
Senator Steve Daines wrote a letter to the Secretary of State then, Antony Blinken in June 2023, urging the State Department to immediately designate Fogel “wrongly detained”, which the United States did at the end from last year.
On Tuesday, Daines congratulated Trump for obtaining the release of Fogel.
“This is a major victory for President Trump, the United States and above all, Marc Fogel and his family. No American should have to undergo this injustice, and I am relieved that Marc is on the way back to the country he loves, “published the Republican of Montana on X.
While Fogel is from Pennsylvania, he has a family who lives in Montana, including his sister. She told CNN in December that her family was satisfied with the government’s decision to officially appoint her brother as wrongly detained.
Fogel’s mother Malphine Fogel met Trump in front of the butler, Pennsylvania, where he was almost murdered in July.
“He said:” We came out “,” Malphine Fogel told CNN, the WTAE affiliate at the time. “So I told Marc that. He said that three times different. He pointed his thumb and said, “We are going to take him out.” »»
Republican representative Mike Kelly, who represents the district of Malphine Fogel in Pennsylvania, applauded on Tuesday the release of Marc Fogel. “For years, I met the Fogels and I strongly pleaded for the release of Marc,” wrote Kelly on X, adding: “Today is an excellent day for the Fogel family, which will be reunited in the ‘West of Pennsylvania. ”
Democratic representative Chris Deluzio, the member of the Fogel Congress, also praised the news, like the governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro.
“After more than 3 years in Russian captivity, I join his family, our federal partners and all his Pennsylvanian colleagues to welcome Marc Fogel Home – exactly where he belongs,” wrote the Democratic Governor.
There are still a number of Americans detained in Russia. At least two were appointed to be wrongly detained – the American Stephen Hubbard and the Russian national American double American Karelina.
The news of the unpertured exchange with Moscow comes when Trump suggested that he could try to end the war in Ukraine in a disturbing way to kyiv.
In an interview with Fox News which was broadcast this week, Trump said that Ukraine could fall under Russian control “one day”, when he called the country torn by the war to share its natural resources in exchange American aid.
“They can conclude an agreement, they may not conclude an agreement. They can be Russian one day, or they may not be Russian one day. But we’re going to have all this money in there and I say I want it, “said Trump.
Members of the Trump administration are expected to meet Ukrainian officials in the coming days. The Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, is expected to go to kyiv for discussions on critical mineral deposits in the country, two people familiar with his plans said in CNN. Vice-president JD Vance is expected to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, is expected to visit kyiv after meetings at the Munich security conference.
This story has been updated with additional information.
Alex Marquardt de CNN, Natasha Bertrand, Edward Szekeres, Teele Rebane, Samantha Waldenberg, Jenna Monnin and Piper Hudspeth Blackburn contributed to this report.