- A Pennsylvania school teacher designated by the U.S. State Department as wrongfully detained in Russia is now free after more than three years of detainment. Marc Fogel was taken into custody in Russia in August 2021.
- As Straight Arrow News previously reported, Fogel was serving a 14-year sentence of hard labor and was just classified as wrongfully detained by the Biden administration in late December.
- Fogel’s family thanked President Donald Trump for securing the schoolteacher’s release in a statement on Tuesday.
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A Pennsylvania school teacher designated by the U.S. State Department as wrongfully detained in Russia is now free after more than three years of detainment.
The Trump administration secured the release of Marc Fogel, who was arrested on charges of bringing medical marijuana into Russia, on Tuesday, Feb. 11, as part of a deal with the Kremlin.
How did the Trump administration secure the release?
Billionaire businessman and President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, negotiated the agreement, according to The New York Times, although details of the deal between Washington and Moscow are scarce.
U.S. officials said Fogel was released from Russia and flown out of the country on Witkoff’s private jet.
What did we previously know about Fogel’s detainment?
As Straight Arrow News previously reported, Fogel had been serving a 14-year sentence of hard labor since June of 2022 and was just classified as wrongfully detained by the Biden administration in late December of 2024.
Who is Steve Witkoff?
Witkoff has reportedly been a close ally of Trump’s since the 1980s and had been secretly negotiating Fogel’s release. It’s the first known trip to Moscow by a senior U.S. official since former CIA Director William Burns flew to the Russian capital in November 2021 to try to stop Russia from invading Ukraine.
What is Fogel’s family saying?
Fogel’s family thanked President Trump for securing the schoolteacher’s release in a statement on Tuesday.
“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 the statement from his wife, Jane Fogel, and sons, Ethan and Sam.
