American teacher and former diplomat Marc Fogel has been released from Russia and is on his way back to the United States, according to US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.
Waltz said Fogel's release had been negotiated as part of a swap with Russia, without giving further details, the BBC reports.
He said Fogel, 63, was on a plane with Steve Witkoff, President Trump's special envoy for the Middle East, and would be reunited with his family by Tuesday evening.
"We are beyond grateful, relieved and thrilled that, after more than three years of detention, our father, husband and son, Marc Fogel, is finally returning home," Fogel's family said in a statement.
Marc Fogel was arrested at a Russian airport in 2021 for illegal possession of cannabis. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Fogel's family had tried to push former President Joe Biden to secure his release, and were disappointed when he was excluded from prisoner exchanges in 2022 and 2024.
