Prisoner deal
American released: Trump praises “very nice” Russians
The release of a US citizen who had been imprisoned for years is being exploited by the government in Washington to great media effect. 63-year-old Marc Fogel was received by President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday. Trump described the release as part of an "exchange" as a gesture of goodwill to end the war in Ukraine. He also announced a further release on Wednesday.
At the reception in the White House, Fogel, draped in a US flag, was visibly moved. He said he felt like the "happiest man on earth" and thanked the US President and his team for their support during his release. For his part, Trump reported on a meeting with Fogel's 95-year-old mother at a campaign event. He promised her that he would "get her son out".
Here, the arrival of Marc Fogel is cheered by the White House:
"Very special person" also facing release
When asked by journalists, Trump described the prisoner deal with Russia as "very fair, very reasonable". He also announced that "somebody else will be released tomorrow". He did not give any further details at first, but added that it was a "very special" person. Regarding Fogel's departure, Moscow explained that it now expected a Russian imprisoned in the United States to be released in return. According to the TASS news agency, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained that the name of the prisoner would only be announced once the person had safely returned to Russia.
Trump had previously said that he was now hoping for new relations with Moscow in order to end the war in Ukraine. "We've been treated very nicely by Russia," Trump told journalists at the White House. "I hope this is the beginning of a relationship where we can end this war."
Fogel had worked as a teacher at a US school in Moscow. According to the Russian authorities, he enjoyed diplomatic immunity as an employee of the US embassy in Moscow until May 2021. In June 2022, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison for drug smuggling after marijuana and cannabis oil were found in his luggage during a customs inspection at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport.
Prisoner exchanges also took place under Biden
Under Trump's predecessor Joe Biden, it was also possible to secure the release of US citizens from Russian prisons. In August, US journalist Evan Gershkovich and former US soldier Paul Whelan were among those released in the largest prisoner exchange since the end of the Cold War. In return, the "Tiergarten murderer" Vadim Krasikov, who had been convicted in Germany for the murder of a Georgian of Chechen origin in the Kleiner Tiergarten in Berlin, was released. Unlike Biden, however, this time a high-ranking US official, Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff, went to Moscow to conduct the negotiations.
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