PA Teacher Imprisoned In Russia Since 2021 Released

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Marc Fogel, the teacher from Western Pennsylvania who had been detained in Russia since his arrest for legally prescribed marijuana possession in 2021, was released from prison on Tuesday.

The move was announced by a White House official, who said that Fogel is expected to be back in the United States and reunited with his family by this evening.

"Today, President Donald J. Trump and his Special Envoy Steve Witkoff are able to announce that Mr. Witkoff is leaving Russian airspace with Marc Fogel, an American who was detained by Russia," White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said in a statement.

"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 did not detail what the United States is providing Russia in the exchange.

In 2022, Fogel, was sentenced to 14 years in a maximum security prison after being caught with 17 grams of medical marijuana, prescribed by an American physician to treat a spinal condition. He was arrested in 2021 at a Moscow airport after going to Russia to teach.

Fogel was not included in the last August's multi-country prisoner exchange that brought several imprisoned Americans home.

Fogel, 61, is from the Pittsburgh suburb of Oakmont. He had worked as a history teacher at the Anglo-American School in Moscow for nearly 10 years prior to his arrest.