Marc Fogel: Trump welcomes home US teacher jailed in Russia

Donald Trump has welcomed home an American teacher who was sentenced to 14 years in prison in Russia.

Marc Fogel, 63, was pictured in the White House with President Trump on Tuesday - more than three years after he was arrested in Moscow on a drug smuggling charge.

The history teacher was detained after travelling with what his family said was medically prescribed cannabis. In December, the US government designated him as wrongfully detained.

Mr Fogel left Russia with Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in a move officials said could help bring about talks to end the Ukraine war.

"I feel like the luckiest man on earth right now," Mr Fogel said, after President Trump welcomed him to the White House.

An American flag draped around his shoulders and a beer in his hands, he added: "I am not the hero in this at all. President Trump is the hero.

"These men, who came from the diplomatic service, are heroes. I'm a middle-class school teacher who's now in a dream world."

Mr Trump, who stood alongside him in the White House Diplomatic Reception Room during an event to mark his release, added: "To me he looks damned good."

In a statement, Mr Fogel's family said: "We are beyond grateful, relieved, and overwhelmed that after more than three years of detention, our father, husband, and son, Marc Fogel, is finally coming home."

They said their time apart had been "the darkest and most painful period of our lives".

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that a Russian citizen imprisoned in the US would be returned to Russia in the coming days as part of the exchange.

President Trump had previously refused to reveal what concession the US had made but said it was "not much".

He added: "We were treated very nicely by Russia."

Both Mr Trump and Mr Fogel thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin.

President Trump added that Mr Fogel's release "could be a big important part" of ending the Ukraine war.

But Mr Peskov seemed to push back on this, saying that the exchange was "unlikely to become a turning point".

"Any agreement on the release of citizens... [is] preceded by very, very scrupulous negotiating work. Of course, such agreements are unlikely to become a turning point. But at the same time, bit by bit, these are certain steps to build up that very mutual trust, which is now at its lowest point."

Meanwhile, Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said the exchange was "a product of one of the channels, through which these contacts are carried out".

He also appeared to accuse the US of breaking a confidentiality agreement about the exchange.

Mr Witkoff made the unannounced trip to Moscow to pick up Mr Fogel - who was pictured on the plane home with a raised glass, a cheese plate and his US passport.

Mr Trump added that another person would be released on Wednesday, but he didn't identify who it would be.

Mr Trump said last month his administration was involved in "very serious" talks with Russia about the future of the conflict.

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Mr Fogel's release comes six months after he was excluded from the biggest prisoner swap since the Cold War.

That historic deal won the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan, among others.

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Russian hitman Vadim Krasikov was among those released from Western prisons in exchange.

However, US-Russian national Ksenia Khavana remains locked up after getting a 12-year treason sentence in August related to a $52 (£42) donation to a charity benefiting Ukraine.

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