American Marc Fogel Returns to US Following Trump-Brokered Prisoner Swap With Russia

Last updated on February 12th, 2025 at 12:35 pm

Marc Fogel, an U.S. citizen who had been imprisoned in Russia since 2021, returned to the United States on Tuesday evening as part of a prisoner swap between the two countries.

White House national security advisor Mike Waltz announced Fogel’s release on Feb. 11. Hours later, the White House shared photos of Fogel disembarking from a plane and of President Donald Trump welcoming the recently-freed American to the White House.

Welcome home, Marc Fogel. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/3WJ2uDDfm5

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 12, 2025

Waltz credited Trump and presidential special envoy Steve Witkoff for negotiating Fogel’s release, and presented the prisoner exchange as a potential building block to future negotiations to end the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

“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.

Fogel has worked internationally for years as a school teacher, and began teaching at the Anglo-American School of Moscow in 2012. Russian authorities arrested him in 2021 on a cannabis possession charge, and a Russian court later convicted him of the charge and sentenced him to a 14-year prison term.

WELCOME HOME, MARC!🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/0b2Igcqudp

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 12, 2025

Fogel remained in Russia’s custody even as President Joe Biden managed to secure the release of other Americans in prisoner exchanges in 2022 and 2024.

In December of 2022, the Biden administration won the release of professional basketball player Brittney Griner, who Russian authorities had arrested and convicted earlier that year on a drug possession charge. In exchange for Griner’s release, the Biden administration freed Viktor Bout; a Russian national convicted in a U.S. federal court for attempting to sell weapons to FARC rebels in Colombia.

In August, the Biden administration secured the release of three U.S. citizens imprisoned in Russia: journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, and U.S. Marine veteran Paul Whelan.

The August prisoner exchange was part of a multi-nation deal, brokered with support from Germany, Norway, Poland, and Slovenia, which saw several other individuals released from Russian and Belarusian custody. The United States, Germany, Norway, Poland, and Slovenia agreed to release eight Russian nationals as part of the deal, including individuals convicted or accused of spying and hacking, and one individual serving a life sentence in Germany for killing a former Chechen rebel.

The Trump White House has not directly identified the Russian national they had agreed to release in exchange for Fogel’s return.

The Russian side also has yet to identify the Russian national to be released in this exchange. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that this Russian national is still awaiting his release, that he will return in the coming days, and that the Kremlin will wait until he lands in Russia before identifying him.

Peskov also said the exchange poses an opportunity to improve U.S.-Russia relations, but stopped short of presenting this exchange as the pivotal opening for negotiations on Ukraine.

“Any agreement on the exchange of citizens is, of course, preceded by scrupulous negotiations through the lines of the relevant agencies,” Peskov said. “Of course, such agreements cannot become a turning point, but they are definitely a step towards intensifying this mutual trust, which is now at its lowest point.”