Russian released as part of Fogel exchange and will return home soon, Kremlin says

Originally Published: 12 FEB 25 06:36 ET

Updated: 12 FEB 25 08:03 ET

By Anna Chernova, CNN

(CNN) — A Russian citizen was released as part of an exchange involving American teacher Marc Fogel and will return to Russia soon, the Kremlin said.

Discussions between Moscow and Washington have increased in recent days, Peskov added, leading to the release of Fogel and “one of the citizens of the Russian Federation” who is “currently being held in detention in the United States.”

That individual “will soon return to Russia,” according to Peskov, who added that his identity will be revealed once he is on Russian soil. CNN is reaching out to US officials on Russia’s statement.

Fogel arrived at the White House late Tuesday draped in an American flag and was greeted by US President Donald Trump, who said it was “an honor to have played a small role” in his release.

Another American is also expected to be released, according to Trump. A number of Americans are still being held in Russia, and at least two have been classified as wrongfully detained: Stephen Hubbard and Russian-American dual national Ksenia Karelina.

A senior White House official had told CNN that Fogel’s release would not play out as a direct one-for-one exchange with a Russian held in the US. “I think you will see the president give consideration if there are some nonviolent people… But you will not see a one-for-one thing happening at the same time,” Adam Boehler, Trump’s special envoy for hostage affairs, said Tuesday.

The deal to release Fogel, who was designated as wrongfully detained by the US State Department, was negotiated by Trump, Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff, “and the President’s advisers,” according to a statement from national security adviser Mike Waltz.

In an extraordinary move, Witkoff had personally gone to Russia to bring back Fogel, Waltz’s statement indicated. There has been no known high-level US travel to Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022.

Speaking alongside Boehler, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CNN that while Fogel’s release is not linked to ending Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, he thinks it’s a “good sign” that Russia was willing to cooperate. Speaking about the war, he said: “We don’t just want to see it end. We want to see it end in a way that’s sustainable,” he said.

Everything “will be new” and “surreal” for Fogel as he adjusts back to life in the US, according to Paul Whelan, an American wrongly held in Russia for more than five years until he was freed in a prisoner exchange last year.

“He’s waking up in the first world after spending three and a half in the third world. Everything will be new to him. Everything familiar will be a just a surreal experience,” he told CNN on Wednesday.

The ex-marine also offered a rare insight into the small group of Americans formerly held by governments and groups abroad who “stay in touch” to support one another.

“If someone needs to chat about what they’re going through, maybe they need some sort of help. We get together and do that,” said Whelan. “It’s an exclusive club, it’s sort of like the club of presidents.”

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