WASHINGTON, December 28. /TASS/. The family of US citizen Marc Fogel, who was convicted in Russia, has asked that Washington include him in any prisoner swap negotiations with Moscow and will be pressing the 47th US President to include him, the family’s attorney told TASS.
"Marc’s family had consistently asked the US Government to include Mr. Fogel into any <…> prisoner swap negotiations [with Russia], and they are certainly asking to include Marc in the next prisoner exchange," the lawyer said on Friday.
According to her, the family of Fogel, 63, plans "to double its efforts" with the US Government so that he can safely return home. Phillips mentioned that in the summer, or before he won the US presidential election, Trump met with Marc Fogel’s 95-year-old mother Malphine Fogel in person in her native state of Pennsylvania. The meeting took place before an assassination attempt on the Republican occurred. According to the attorney, Trump then told her that he would bring her son back if he was elected president. "The family hopes to draw on that promise to ensure Marc’s safe and fast return home," Phillips said. Trump will be inaugurated as the next US president on January 20, 2025.
The designation of Marc’s case as wrongfully detained by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken would "improve the avenues for positive and productive dialogue" between Moscow and Washington on Fogel’s situation, Phillips said with confidence. It also has the potential to strengthen the framework for discussions between Russia and the United States on a new prisoner swap.
Fogel, a lecturer at an Anglo-American School in Moscow, formerly worked at the US Embassy in Russia. Until May 2021, he and his wife enjoyed diplomatic status. He was detained upon arrival in Moscow from New York on August 14, 2021. At Sheremetyevo Airport, while going through the "green corridor," he was stopped by customs officers. The reaction of service dogs to his baggage was the reason. Marijuana and hash oil were found in the foreigner’s luggage. Investigators suspected that Fogel could have earlier used his diplomatic status to smuggle drugs into Russia for distribution among school students. Fogel was sentenced to 14 years in prison for drug smuggling.
According to US President Joe Biden, Russia released 16 people as part of the prisoner swap, including former US Marine Paul Whelan and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, convicted of espionage in Russia.