(NewsNation) — An attorney representing American teacher Marc Fogel, who was detained in Russia, says his release was secured after a joint bipartisan effort but that the Trump administration took it to the finish line.
Sasha Phillips, a lawyer for Fogel, told NewsNation the process of bringing Fogel home was years in the making.
“This was a joint bipartisan effort from the very beginning,” Phillips said, “but I believe it was the negotiating power of the current administration that brought this all together and ultimately brought Marc home.”
Marc Fogel thanks Trump for his release from Russia
Phillips also said Fogel’s release signals a shift in U.S.-Russian relations “for the better.”
The attorney added this was also a “gesture of goodwill” by Russian President Vladimir Putin and indicated that there may be “more negotiations coming; perhaps better things are up ahead.”
Fogel, an American history teacher from just outside Pittsburgh, was traveling to Russia to work at a Moscow school in 2021 when he was detained. His family and supporters said he had been traveling with medically prescribed marijuana.
Almost a year later, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison. The Interfax news agency said Fogel taught at the Anglo-American School in Moscow and had worked at the U.S. Embassy. Interfax cited court officials as saying Fogel admitted guilt.
In December, the State Department announced that Fogel had been designated by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained.
Fogel release a sign of Trump, Putin’s ‘great friendship’: Witkoff
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NewsNation that Russia asked for nothing in exchange for Fogel, while Trump said Tuesday that the terms of his release were “fair.”
Trump greeted Fogel at the White House on Tuesday night.
Fogel thanked Trump and members of his administration for his safe return, adding that the “superorganism of people” supporting him helped him sustain for more than three years in Russian prison.
