The sister of Marc Fogel, a Pennsylvania schoolteacher imprisoned in Russia, expressed deep anguish after Thursday’s major prisoner swap deal failed to secure his release. The multinational agreement resulted in the freedom of several U.S. nationals, including a Wall Street Journal reporter and a former U.S. Marine, but left Fogel still incarcerated.
A family’s desperation
Marc Fogel, 63, was arrested at a Moscow airport in 2021 for possessing medical marijuana prescribed for severe spinal pain. Despite his family’s and lawyer’s assertions that the drug was for medical use, he was sentenced to 14 years in a penal colony on drug charges.
“The last 36 hours have been gut-wrenching,” Fogel’s sister, Anne Fogel, told CNN’s Erin Burnett. As news of the imminent swap deal surfaced, Anne and her family fervently contacted lawmakers and diplomats, hoping Marc would be included. “We really hoped that they were going to get Marc on the plane,” she said.
Their hopes were crushed when Marc called Anne from Rybinsk, indicating he had not been part of the deal. “When I realized that he was in Rybinsk, I knew that things were not going well,” Anne explained. “It’s been a rollercoaster. No sleep. I feel like we’ve been kind of collectively stabbed in the back.”
Anne highlighted the family’s plea for Marc’s release on humanitarian grounds, though she acknowledged that Russia has “no history of ever doing that.” She expressed further frustration that Marc has not been designated as wrongfully detained, a status that could expedite his release.
Official statements
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan referred to Marc Fogel as wrongfully detained for the first time during a White House press briefing on Thursday. He assured that the administration is “actively working to get his release from Russia,” although the State Department has yet to officially recognize him as wrongfully detained.
Anne voiced her family’s confusion and frustration over this delay, comparing Marc’s situation to that of WNBA star Brittney Griner. Griner, who was also arrested at a Moscow airport for possessing cannabis oil, was designated as wrongfully detained and subsequently freed in a December 2022 prisoner swap for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. “Their cases are nearly identical,” Anne noted.
A cry for help
Anne expressed the emotional toll this ordeal has taken, fighting back tears as she described feeling unheard and not taken seriously. “We don’t have the NBA and we don’t have The Wall Street Journal backing us, so we’ve been—Marc has been largely ignored,” she said. “He needs the [wrongfully detained] designation because he needs real medical treatment.”
She also shared concerns about Marc’s deteriorating health, noting he has fallen multiple times in the penal colony due to icy conditions. “He spent the last month in a ‘hospital’ where there are no doctors, but he’s given multitudes of injections, without having any clear understanding of what they’re giving him,” she said. “You can imagine how terrifying that would be.”
Administration’s position
A senior Biden administration official told CNN, “We absolutely wanted Marc to be included, but it just wasn’t going to happen.”
This ongoing struggle highlights the complexities and emotional strain families endure while advocating for their loved ones’ freedom in international detention cases.