UPDATE: Feb. 12 — President Donald Trump welcomed American schoolteacher Marc Fogel on the White Home late Tuesday, following his launch from a Russian jail.
Fogel spoke to reporters alongside Trump, praising the president for his efforts to free him.
“I really feel just like the luckiest man on Earth proper now,” Fogel said.
Trump additionally defended the U.S.-Russia deal to safe Fogel’s freedom when requested to spell out its phrases.
“Very reasonable. Very, very reasonable, very affordable, not like offers you’ve seen through the years,” Trump mentioned.
In the meantime, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday said the U.S. has freed a Russian citizen in trade for Fogel’s launch however declined to call them till they return to the nation.
American schoolteacher Marc Fogel has been launched from a Russian jail after three and a half years in captivity, nationwide safety adviser Mike Waltz shared Tuesday.
The 63-year-old, whom U.S. authorities had designated as wrongfully detained, was discovered responsible by a Russian courtroom in 2022 and sentenced to 14 years for a minor marijuana infraction ― a harsher punishment than Russia has given to some convicted murderers.
“By tonight, Marc Fogel might be on American soil and reunited together with his household and family members due to President Trump’s management,” Waltz mentioned in a press release, noting that Fogel was launched as a part of a prisoner trade negotiated by U.S. Particular Envoy to the Center East Steve Witkoff, who flew him dwelling on his aircraft.
Waltz didn’t present any additional particulars on the trade besides to say it “serves as a present of excellent religion from the Russians and an indication we’re transferring in the suitable path to finish the brutal and horrible struggle in Ukraine.”
Two folks conversant in the matter informed CNN that Witkoff leveraged a few of his relationships within the Center East to finalize the trade.
Fogel is ready to fulfill with Trump on the White Home on Tuesday night time. The president informed reporters that in negotiations, “we had been handled very properly by Russia, truly.”
Earlier than his 2021 arrest, Fogel had spent almost a decade instructing on the Anglo-American Faculty in Moscow, primarily to the kids of diplomats. He was arrested and detained for possession of lower than an oz. of hashish that he was utilizing to deal with power again ache.
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“We’re past grateful, relieved and overwhelmed that after greater than three years of detention, our father, husband and son, Marc Fogel, is lastly coming dwelling,” a press release from his spouse, Jane Fogel, and his sons, Ethan and Sam, learn.
That is the primary high-profile American prisoner launch in Trump’s second time period. President Joe Biden’s administration oversaw negotiations to launch WNBA participant Brittney Griner, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan from the Kremlin.
Marita Vlachou contributed reporting.
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