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Russia has recently freed an American teacher, an act the White House views as a gesture of “good faith” potentially benefiting negotiations to conclude the conflict in Ukraine.
Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, flew to Moscow using his private jet on Tuesday to broker the agreement that led to the release of Marc Fogel. Fogel had been held in Russia since 2021.
After Witkoff’s aircraft exited Russian airspace, US national security adviser Mike Waltz released a statement mentioning that Fogel would be back on U.S. soil “tonight.”
Waltz explained, “President Trump, Steve Witkoff, and the president’s team have negotiated an exchange seen as Russia’s goodwill gesture, signaling potential progress towards ending the harsh war in Ukraine.”
Witkoff’s plane landed in Moscow earlier on Tuesday, drawing attention to the clandestine agreement, which was only disclosed once the plane left Russian airspace that afternoon.
It remains uncertain what concessions the US made to the Kremlin for Fogel’s release, as the White House has withheld further details.
Fogel faced arrest in August 2021 over charges of bringing medical marijuana into Russia, leading to a 14-year sentence that began in 2022. Late in December, the Biden administration classified him as wrongfully detained.
The aircraft, departing from Dulles airport at 5:40 PM on Monday, is registered to a firm associated with Witkoff, a billionaire real estate mogul whom Trump appointed as his special envoy. The jet’s transponder indicated a location near Moscow approximately eight hours later, around 10 AM local time.
On Tuesday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his readiness to meet with representatives from the United States.
Trump, via his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, announced his intention to dispatch his Treasury Secretary to Ukraine to discuss U.S. access to natural resources and the cessation of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Scott Bessent’s visit would represent the first by a member of Trump’s cabinet to Kyiv since he assumed the presidency last month.
“This War MUST and WILL END SOON — Too much Death and Destruction,” Trump asserted.
