An American school teacher held by Russia for three and a half years over a minor medical cannabis infraction will be released and allowed to come home, the White House said Tuesday.
Marc Fogel, a 63-year-old Pennsylvania native, had been sentenced to 14 years in prison by Russia and was considered “wrongfully detained” by the United States.
“By tonight, Marc Fogel will be on American soil and reunited with his family and loved ones thanks to President Trump’s leadership,” national security adviser Mike Waltz said Tuesday in a statement.
Fogel was already on a plane with U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff that was leaving Russian airspace, Waltz said.
The release could advance President Donald Trump’s efforts in reaching a ceasefire in the three-year Russian invasion of neighboring Ukraine, officials said.
“President Trump, Steve Witkoff and the President’s advisors negotiated an exchange that serves as a show of good faith from the Russians and a sign we are moving in the right direction to end the brutal and terrible war in Ukraine,” Waltz said in a statement.
It wasn’t immediately clear on Tuesday what the Russians gained by releasing Fogel.
Tuesday’s announcement brings an end to years of frustration voiced by Fogel’s family, which has been calling for the White House to secure his release.
Fogel had remained in Russian custody as U.S. authorities won freedom for other high profile American detainees, such as Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Marine veteran Paul Whelan and WNBA star Brittney Griner.
“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,” according to a family statement.
Fogel had been teaching in Russia before he was picked up by authorities at Sheremetyevo International Airport near Moscow, prosecuted and sentenced to 14 years for having about 17 grams of medical cannabis.
He’d been prescribed medical cannabis in the United States for back pain, but the substance was illegal in Russia.
“Great news for Mark and his family. Our delegation and both parties across administrations worked hard to bring him home,” U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Pa., said in video statement.
“That’s what you should expect as an American, that your government will never leave Behind the hard work to bring him home. Welcome home, Marc.”
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., thanked the administration for its work to secure Fogel’s freedom.
“Marc Fogel’s return home is long overdue — and I know all of Pennsylvania, especially his family, will be welcoming him back with open arms,” Fetterman said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.
U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., said he was particularly happy for the school teacher’s elderly mother, who will finally get to see her son.
“I could not be happier that Marc Fogel’s 95-year-old mother, Mafa, gets to hug her son in Pennsylvania tonight,” McCormick said in a statement.
Fogel’s mother was at home early Tuesday when the phone rang and a person on the other line said, “buongiorno,” the standard Italian greeting her son uses every time he calls her.
Fogel was in a Moscow airport waiting for a flight to Washington, D.C., to the joyful shock of his mother, who had “absolutely” no idea about recent negotiations that ended in his release.
“I did not know this,” his mother said in a phone interview with Fox News Channel. “I just have had a better feeling the last couple days and I don’t know why. But anyway, it was a total surprise when he called and he said he was in the Moscow airport. So that meant that they had taken him out of prison.”
