An American teacher held by Russia for 3½ years for a minor medical cannabis infraction was back on U.S. soil Tuesday night after his release earlier in the day, officials said.
Marc Fogel, 63, who had been sentenced to 14 years in prison, shook hands with President Donald Trump in a light snow outside the White House after his return to the U.S. and safety.
Fogel thanked Trump and said he was “in awe” of all of the staff members who helped secure his release. He called them heroes.
“I want you to know that I am not a hero in this at all,” Fogel said at the White House on Tuesday night. “And President Trump is a hero. These men that came from the diplomatic service are heroes.”
Trump called the terms of Fogel’s release “very fair.” He confirmed Tuesday night while he waited to welcome Fogel that another American would be released, but he did not say who.
“Somebody else is being released tomorrow, that you will know of,” Trump said.
Dmitry Ovsyannikov, Fogel’s lawyer, told Russian state news agency Interfax: “We had no official documents here. It was all via the special services. We know for sure from our American colleagues that it was an exchange. They won’t say who they exchanged for.”
Fogel, of Pennsylvania, landed at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, shortly after 9 p.m. The United States has said that Fogel was “wrongfully detained” by Russia.
“Promises made, promises kept!!” the White House posted on X, with a photo showing Fogel stepping off the plane on U.S. soil.
Told the news Tuesday after the release was announced, Fogel’s mother, Malphine “Mafa” Fogel, 95, said: “Don’t tell Trump. He was never a Trump supporter. He will be.”
Fogel returned on a private plane of U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, with Witkoff, the White House said.
Ellen Keelan, center, and other family members rally outside the White House in 2021 for the release of Marc Fogel.Stephanie Scarbrough / AP file
Fogel’s release could advance Trump’s efforts to reach 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,” national security adviser Mike Waltz said earlier.
It wasn’t immediately clear what the Russians gained by releasing Fogel.
Trump told reporters Tuesday night that the release was “very fair” but did not release details. He would not say whether he spoke directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin about Fogel.
“I just want to say that I appreciate very much what they did in letting Marc go home,” Trump said.
Tuesday’s announcement ends years of frustration voiced by Fogel’s family, who have been calling for the White House to secure his release.
“We just wanted to get him back home,” Trump said. “I had to get him back home — because I would have had big trouble with his mother.”
Fogel had remained in Russian custody as U.S. authorities won freedom for other high-profile American detainees, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Marine Paul Whelan and WNBA star Brittney Griner.
Fogel’s mother said the releases of those Americans “really crushed him.”
“I worried if he’d ever get seen again,” she said Tuesday in Butler, Pennsylvania, alongside family attorney Sasha Phillips, who has worked for his freedom pro bono.
Fogel said at the White House on Tuesday night that he needed time before he could discuss the conditions of his imprisonment in detail but that they were difficult.
“There were times when it was extremely trying. There were times when I could manage it,” Fogel said. “Every second, every minute, every day had a challenge.”
His mother credited Trump for her son’s release. She met Trump before his rally in Butler on July 13, when he was struck by gunfire, a man was killed and two spectators were injured in what federal investigators said was an assassination attempt.
Malphine Fogel said Trump told her that if he won the election, “I’ll get him out.”
“He has been instrumental,” she said.
Fogel’s family expressed gratitude in a statement.
“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,” it said.
Fogel had been teaching in Russia before authorities picked him up at Sheremetyevo International Airport near Moscow. He was prosecuted and sentenced to 14 years for having about 17 grams of medical cannabis.
He’d been prescribed medical cannabis, which was illegal in Russia, in the United States for back pain.
Phillips said Russia’s justice system usually deals with such cases by meting out probation and deferred sentences — which essentially amount to no or relatively little time in custody. But the government, she alleged, wanted a pawn in its ongoing diplomatic disagreement with the United States.
“They were looking for someone to detain, to hold hostage,” she said, standing alongside Fogel’s mother Tuesday.
U.S. lawmakers praised Fogel’s release.
“Great news for Mark and his family. Our delegation and both parties across administrations worked hard to bring him home,” 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,” he said.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., thanked the Trump 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.
Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., said he was particularly happy for Fogel’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, she said Tuesday.
Fogel was in a Moscow airport waiting for a flight to Washington to the joyful shock of his mother, who said she was unaware that recent negotiations that ended in his release.
“We just didn’t know anything, and he told us not to ask any questions,” she said. “He said, ‘I’m coming home.’ And hopefully he’ll be there suppertime tonight.”
Reuters, Austin Mullen, Olympia Sonnier, Dennis Romero and Gary Grumbach contributed.
