Russia publishes the US prisoner after talks with Trump envoy

President Trump secured the release of an American imprisoned contract in Russia on Tuesday with the Kremlin, which was negotiated by Mr. Trump’s special representative in the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.

Marc Fogel, a teacher who was arrested in August 2021 for a medical marijuana to Russia, was released by the Kremlin and flown from the country by Mr. Witkoff. Although he started a 14-year prison sentence in June 2022, Mr. Fogel was only imprisoned by the bidden administration at the end of last year.

Mr. Witkoff, a billionaire New York real estate manager and close friend of Mr. Trump, had secretly promoted the deal, even though his presence in Moscow was visible when he flew with his private jet and alerted online flight enforcement officers. It was the first known trip to Moscow of a high -ranking US official since William J. Burns, the then CIA director, to the Russian capital in November 2021 to try to invest in Ukraine.

Mike Waltz, Mr. Trump’s national security advisor, said in a statement that Mr. Witkoff, under the direction of President Mr. Fogel, had brought in his plane from Russia as part of an exchange. But he gave no details about whether the United States or an ally of someone had published in return or the other steps that the administration had undertaken to win Mr. Fogel’s release.

“President Trump, Steve Witkoff and the president’s advisors have negotiated an exchange that serves as proof of loyal faith of the Russians, and as a sign that we go in the right direction to end brutal and terrible war in Ukraine “, said Waltz.

It is unclear who Mr. Witkoff and whether other affairs, including Ukraine, were part of discussions. Officials of the White House refused to comment on these questions.

The deal, which is discussing for several days, is a gesture of good will for both sides that aims at talking to talks to smooth the war in Ukraine and possibly improve relationships between Russia and the United States.

It underlined President Vladimir V. Putin’s efforts to establish warm relationships with the new government after the Russian leader Mr. Trump had repeatedly praised in the weeks since his inauguration. And it underlines the bond in which President Volodymyr Zelensky finds from Ukraine, while Mr. Trump builds a channel to Moscow as he speaks deep skepticism about Kyiv.

In an explanation, the Fogel family thanked Mr. Trump to secure his release.

“We are grateful, relieved and overwhelmed beyond that our father, husband and son Marc Fogel finally come home” and Sam.

According to several people who have been informed about the situation, who spoke about the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive arrangements, the role of Mr. Witkoff extends a mission to publish a imprisoned American. While Mr. Trump Kellogg, a retired three-star general, appointed a special representative for Ukraine and Russia, he has also assigned a role in the peace process.

Weeks ago, Mr. Trump secretly authorized Mr. Witkoff to expand his portfolio beyond the Middle East to open a negotiating channel with the Russians, these people said. Mr. Trump trusts Mr. Witkoff and informed people near him that he believes that the real estate developer has the right negotiating skills to end the war in Ukraine.

However, the exact authority limits in the administration on this question remain unclear.

Before visiting Moscow, Mr. Witkoff had direct discussions with narrow allies of Mr. Putin how people informed about the situation. He also discussed Ukraine with contacts in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, they said. For a long time, the countries of the Persian golf have tried to play a role as mediators to end the conflict.

It remains unclear whether Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin spoke -no side will say -but several high -ranking representatives of the Trump administration, who would normally be aware of such a call, said they could not confirm that this had happened.

During his presidential campaign, Mr. Trump had promised to end the Russia Ukraine War “in 24 hours”. But Mr. Putin, who has shown the willingness to survive the support of the Ukraine of the West through the West, has not hurried to make concessions. And while Mr. Trump has signaled that he wants to use sanctions or other instruments to squeeze Mr. Putin financially to force him to negotiate, it is unclear how long Ukraine should expect that deliveries from the United States Get weapons.

Mr. Trump said that he wants Ukraine to provide hundreds of billions of dollars for rare earths as a repayment for the security of US security securing since the beginning of the war. He announced on Tuesday that he sent the finance minister Scott Bessent to meet Mr. Zelensky.

“This war must and will soon end,” wrote Mr. Trump on his social media website Truth Social. “Too much death and destruction. The United States has spent billions of dollars worldwide with little to show. “

Mr. Bessent was instructed to explore the Ukrainians what a deal for the rare earths could look like, so several people who have been informed about the plans.

In an interview, Mr. Zelensky announced that he was open to a deal for rare earthly minerals in exchange for a security guarantee.

Mr. Trump has continued to express private skepticism to Mr. Zelensky, of whom he believes that she has exploited American generosity. Mr. Trump also hesitated to entertain any form of security guarantees for the US security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a settlement.

Mr. Trump’s comments in his Super Bowl interview with Fox News about the future of Ukraine have again questioned how his vision for the end of the war and his support for Ukrainian sovereignty could be.

“You can complete a deal, you can’t do a deal,” said Trump about Ukraine. “One day you can be Russian or one day you can’t be Russian.”

In the interview, Mr. Trump seemed to think out loud, but all questions that the American president vocalizes about the future of an independent Ukraine are deeply worrying for civil servants in Kyiv.

Mr. Putin and many Russians see Ukraine, a former Soviet Republic, as a legal part of Russia and questioned their independence before the war. On the other hand, Ukrainian nationalism has hardened since the Russian invasion three years ago and the following amazing losses.

Representatives of the Trump administration are expected to discuss their plans for the war in Ukraine this weekend at the Munich Security Conference in Germany. Mr. Kellogg, the Russia-Ukraine sent, is to take part in the conference together with Foreign Minister Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance.

Mr. Vance should meet Mr. Zelensky in Munich. This meeting could set the stage for a meeting in Washington between Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelensky. Mr. Trump said that he would soon meet the Ukrainian leader, and it is expected that he will also speak to Mr. Putin.

Allied by Mr. Fogel had disputed the Russian authorities that they should release him as part of the gesture of the new Trump government.

Mr. Fogels 95-year-old mother, Malphine, lives in Butler, Pennsylvania, and supporter of Mr. Trump. Ms. Fogel was present at the Butler rally, where an assassin tried Mr. Trump’s ear. She had met with Mr. Trump before the rally and had to join him on stage, a plan that was excited by the attack.

Mr. Fogel’s allies had hoped that he was admitted to the large prisoner exchange contract, which was released last August last August Paul Whhelan, the former marine, and Evan Gershkovich. But the Biden administration did not urge him to be recorded because Mr. Fogel had not been arrested as wrong at the time because of the amount of marijuana he carried to Russia.

Mr. Fogel’s legal team said that his release was “long overdue”.

“After years of bureaucratic inactivity, including the consistent rejection, Marc to be wrongly described as lawyers, said in an explanation.

For Mr. Putin, the decision to publish Mr. Fogel is a postponement of his far less courteous attitude during the bidges. When Tucker Carlson, the former moderator of Fox News, asked in an interview in February 2024 to publish Mr. Putin, the Russian president shot back: “We made so many gestures of good will out of them. “