‘We were treated very nicely’: Jailed American freed by Russia
Fogel’s relatives said they were “beyond grateful, relieved and overwhelmed” that he was coming home.
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“This has been the darkest and most painful period of our lives, but today, we begin to heal,” they said. “For the first time in years, our family can look forward to the future with hope.”
There was no immediate comment from Moscow about Fogel’s release on Tuesday.
The US, Russia and other nations carried out a large prisoner swap in August that resulted in the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and American corporate security executive Paul Whelan, among others.
But that deal left out numerous other Americans jailed in Russia, including Fogel. Some omitted then were also not included in Tuesday’s release, including several who have had major milestones in their cases since then.
Among them is U.S.-Russian dual national Ksenia Khavana, who was convicted of treason in a Russian court shortly after last August’s prisoner swap and sentenced to 12 years in prison on charges stemming from a donation of about $US52 to a charity aiding Ukraine. John Kirby, a national security spokesman at the Biden White House at that time, called the conviction and sentencing “nothing less than vindictive cruelty”.
Last October, American Robert Gilman was sentenced to more than seven years in prison in Russia for allegedly assaulting law enforcement officers while serving a sentence for another assault, while American Stephen Hubbard was sentenced to prison in a closed trial for allegedly fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine.
As the Russia-Ukraine war nears the end of its third year, Trump’s plan for securing an end to the conflict remains unclear, though he has said that both sides will need to make concessions and suggested that Ukraine would have to accept the loss of at least some territory.
Fogel’s release and Trump’s announcement that he will send Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Kyiv for talks with Ukraine’s leaders could signal that plans may be beginning to take shape.
Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s special envoy for Russia and Ukraine, retired General Keith Kellogg, will all be travelling later this week to the Munich Security Conference, where the situation in Ukraine will be a major topic of discussion.
Kellogg told The Associated Press on Monday that he and the others would be talking to European officials about the very broad outlines of what Trump would like to see and gauging their interest.
“We will deliver our expectation to the allies,” Kellogg said. “When we come back from Munich — we want to deliver to the president the options, so when he does get (directly) involved in the peace process, he knows what it will look like for him.”
AP, Reuters
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