Trump expresses hope for new Russia relations after prisoners release | U.S. News
An American teacher, who has been in Russia since 2021, was released after Donald Trump expressed hope to mark a deal to establish a new relationship with Moscow.
Marc Fogel, a Pennsylvania school teacher, was released Tuesday after being sentenced to 14 years of drug trafficking charges in Russia, was released on Trump's special envoy Steve Witkov Witkoff) was unannounced on Trump's special.
“Today, President Donald J. Trump and his special envoy Steve Witkoff,” said in a family. It can be announced that Mr. Witkov will leave Russian space with the Russian detained American Marc Fogel. “Statement.
In a statement, Walz said that the United States and Russia “negotiated an exchange, which was a sincere exchange between the Russians and that we are moving in the right direction to end the cruel and terrible war in Ukraine.”
When asked about the rewards the United States has released for Fogel, Trump later said: “Not much.”
“We actually treat Russia well. I hope this is the beginning of a relationship that can end this war,” he told reporters.
Previous negotiations occasionally involved the mutual release of detainees and prisoners.
The deal was negotiated secretly, but when his private plane was found landing in Moscow, rumors began to circulate Vitkov's presence in Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters earlier in the day that he had no “no information” about the arrival of Witkoff's plane.
Since 2012, Fogel has worked as a teacher at Anglo-American School in Moscow and has taught in countries such as Oman and Malaysia. He was arrested at Moscow airport in 2021 after Russian officials found less than an ounce of marijuana in their luggage.
Fogel's surprise release highlighted the ongoing post-squad negotiations between the United States and Russia, and Putin's intention to establish ties with the Trump administration ahead of expected peace talks about the Ukrainian war.
Since his inauguration, Putin has praised Trump, repeatedly praised him as “brave” because he survived the assassination attempt, while also showing his preparation for meeting with the U.S. leader.
Trump has said he has spoken with Putin, but this has been vague except saying he is making “progress” to ensure the end of the Ukrainian war, which began with a full-scale Russian invasion in 2022 .
Trump suggested in an interview with Fox News on Monday that Ukraine “maybe Russian one day” as his vice president JD Vance goes out of his way to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Munich Security Council later this week .
Russia's latest engagement with the United States will trigger a sirensky bell for Kyofu, and Zelenskyy must navigate the new reality of the U.S. government, which has had a dialogue with Moscow and sometimes exhibited open hostility towards Ukraine.
Fogel and his family had hoped he could put him in a historic prisoner exchange in August, the exchange released Wall Street journalist Evan Gershkovich and U.S. Marine Corps Paul Whelan. At the time, Fogel had not been designated as “misconducted” by the U.S. government, a label he obtained only in the second half of last year.
Fogel's family said in a statement that they were “grateful, relieved and overwhelmed” and that he was going home.
“This is the darkest and most painful period of our lives, but today, we are starting to recover,” they said. “For the first time in years, our family can look forward to the future hopefully.”
Fogel is expected to arrive in the United States later Tuesday.