US President Donald Trump greets Marc Folger at the White House in Washington, DC, on 11 February 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE / DANIEL HEUER / POOL

An American teacher who was sentenced to 14 years in a Russian prison in 2021 after being caught carrying a small amount of medical marijuana at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport was released from Russian custody on Tuesday during an unannounced visit to Moscow by US President Donald Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.

After being flown back to the US on Tuesday, Marc Fogel was taken to the White House where he was greeted by Trump who described his release from prison as an “important part” of ending the war in Ukraine.

Standing alongside Trump in the White House’s Diplomatic Reception Room, a visibly overwhelmed Fogel told reporters that he felt like the “luckiest man on earth” and praised the efforts made by Trump and his team to negotiate his release, calling them “heroes”, while also calling Vladimir Putin “generous and statesmanlike” for granting him a pardon.

Trump said that the US had secured Fogel’s release on “very fair, very reasonable” terms and that the move indicated “goodwill in terms of the war” from Moscow. “It could be a big, important part of getting the war over with Ukraine”, Trump said, adding that he “appreciated very much” what Putin had done to facilitate Fogel’s release.

His remarks echoed those of US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who in a statement described Fogel’s release in an “exchange” 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”.

Neither Waltz nor Trump gave any details of what the US offered Moscow in exchange for Fogel’s release. The Kremlin has yet to comment.

The US State Department, which formally designated Fogel as “wrongfully detained” in December, confirmed that it had attempted without success to secure his release as a part of a wide-ranging prisoner exchange that took place in August. On Tuesday it said that Fogel’s release served as a reminder that other US citizens were still in Russian prisons and that Trump was “committed to bringing all of them home”.