Washington DC/Moscow26 minutes ago
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American school teacher Mark Phogel has been released by Russia. According to CNN, he was in Russia’s custody for 43 months. There has been an agreement between the US and Russia regarding the release of Phogel. Phogel was arrested in August 2021 on charges of having marijuana (ganja).
In 2022, Phogel was sentenced to 14 years by the Russian court. American NSA Mike Waltz said that the agreement is the result of the conversation to end the war in Ukraine. However, he did not say what Russia has been offered in lieu of Phogel’s release.
NSA Waltz said that Mark Phogel has left Russia with Steve Witchoff. They will reach America by Tuesday night (Indian time according to Indian time).
There were frequent demonstrations in the US over the release of Mark Phogel.
The White House issued a statement about the release of Phogel and said-
This is a demonstration of goodwill from Russia and it shows that we are moving in the right direction to eliminate Ukraine war. By tonight, Phogel will be on American soil and will meet with his family members again.
Vistoff reached Russia from private jet to bring back Phogel According to the New York Times, the Middle East’s special ambassador to the Trump administration, Steve Witchoff, was secretly negotiating for the release of Phogel. He reached Moscow from his private jet, which was tracked by online flight trackers. After this, reports of Vikkoff reached Russia went viral on social media.
This is officially the first time after an American official visited Russia after the Russian war began. Earlier in November 2021, the then CIA Chief William Burns visited Moscow. They went there to stop Ukraine war.
Fogel accused of smuggling drugs 61-year-old Mark Phogel Russia’s capital Moscow had been teaching history to the children of American diplomats at an Anglo-American School for almost 10 years. He was arrested at Moscow Airport in August 2021. 17 grams of hemp was found from him. He was accused of smuggling drugs.
However, in the defense of Phogel, his lawyer and family argued that he was a spinal pain problem. The doctor advised them to use cannabis to reduce the effect of pain. After Phogel’s sentence, the US said that he had been misrepresented.
After this, several appeals were filed in the Russian court against Phogel’s sentence but they were all rejected. The US government had appealed to the Russian government to release Phogel’s old age and his old back pain on a humanitarian basis.