By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, on a visit to Russia, secured the release on Tuesday of Marc Fogel, an American schoolteacher detained in Russia since August 2021, the White House said.
“President Trump, Steve Witkoff and the president’s advisers 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,” White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said.
Witkoff, who is Trump’s chief Middle East envoy, made an unannounced trip to Russia to pick up Fogel, and Waltz said they were both leaving Russian airspace.
“By tonight, Marc Fogel will be on American soil and reunited with his family and loved ones thanks to President Trump’s leadership,” Waltz said.
Trump has indicated he has spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin but has been vague on the details other than to say he is insistent on ending the three-year-old Ukraine war.
Fogel was sentenced to 14 years in prison for drug smuggling after he was detained in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport in August 2021 with 17 grams of marijuana – which he said he uses for medical reasons – in his luggage.
(Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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