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Russia has published an American detention teacher in a decision that the White House described as a demonstration of “good faith” which would help the talks to end the war in Ukraine.
Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, flew to Moscow on his private jet on Tuesday to negotiate the agreement and obtain the return of Marc Fogel, detained in Russia since 2021.
Once the Witkoff’s plane has left Russian airspace, US National Security Councilor Mike Waltz published a statement confirming that Fogel would be back on American soil “Tonight”.
“President Trump, Steve Witkoff and the president’s advisers negotiated an exchange that serves as a good faith of the Russians and a sign that we are going in the right direction to end the brutal and terrible war in Ukraine,” said Waltz.
A plane linked to Witkoff had landed in Moscow earlier on Tuesday, drawing attention to the secret agreement that was only announced when it left Russian airspace in the afternoon.
We did not know what the United States has promised to Kremlin in exchange for the release of Fogel, and the White House did not provide more details.
His family said in a statement that they were “beyond recognizing, relieved and overwhelmed” in his release, and congratulated the “unshakable management of Trump”.
Fogel’s American legal team said that his release was “after years of bureaucratic inaction, including coherent refusals to designate Marc as wrongly detained”.
His Russian legal team said that Fogel’s release “promotes hope of improving bilateral relations between the United States and Russia”.
Fogel was arrested to bring medical marijuana to the country in August 2021. He began to serve a 14 -year sentence for the accusations in 2022. The administration of Joe Biden ranked it wrongly at the end of December.
The plane, which took off Dulles airport at 5:40 p.m., is registered with a company linked to Witkoff, a Trump billionaire real estate developer appointed to be his special envoy. The transponder of the plane reported a position near Moscow about eight hours later, at around 10 a.m.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday evening that he was “already prepared for meetings with representatives of the United States”.
Trump said on Tuesday on his social platform of truth that he would send his secretary to the Treasury Scott Bessent in Ukraine to discuss American access to natural resources and ending the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The trip of Bessent would mark the first in kyiv by a member of the Trump cabinet since the president took office last month.
“This war must and will soon end – too much death and destruction,” said Trump.
