Published: February 11, 2025 10:38 pm
Author: RT
The US president hopes the release of an American national will mark the “beginning of a relationship” to end the Ukraine conflict
President Donald Trump has said that Moscow agreed to release Marc Fogel, a former US embassy employee sentenced to 14 years in prison on drug trafficking charges, without asking “much” in return.
Moscow has not yet commented on the development, but US officials have praised the move as a “show of good faith” after US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff’s private jet departed Russia with Fogel on board on Tuesday.
“We were treated very nicely by Russia, actually. I hope that’s the beginning of a relationship where we can end that war and millions of people can stop being killed,” Trump told journalists at the White House later in the day.
Trump: Mark Fogel will be at The White House tonight
Reporter: Did you give anything in return?
Trump: Not much. We were treated very nice by Russia pic.twitter.com/n6vllHUKXk
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 11, 2025
Asked whether Washington had given Moscow “anything in return,” Trump paused briefly before responding: “Not much. No, they were very nice.”
READ MORE: Russia frees jailed US national – White House
Fogel, a teacher at an Anglo-American school in Moscow, had previously worked at the US embassy in Russia. He lost his diplomatic immunity in May 2021. In August of the same year, he was detained at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow after authorities found marijuana and hashish oil in his possession. He was later sentenced to 14 years in prison after Russian officials accused him of attempting to establish a drug trafficking route, alleging that the banned substances were carefully concealed in his personal belongings.
