US to free Russian prisoner ‘in coming days’ after release of American teacher

The United States has agreed to release an unnamed Russian citizen from an American prison “in the coming days” following the release of US schoolteacher Marc Fogel from a Russian prison on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

Peskov told reporters that Russia would not identify the prisoner in question until after their release, adding that intensive negotiation between the US and Russia had led to the release of both prisoners, Interfax reported.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) speculated that the prisoner could be the co-founder of the BTC-e crypto-exchange Alexander Vinnik, who is currently awaiting sentencing in the US for conspiracy to commit money laundering. According to the US authorities, the now defunct exchange was used by Russian crime groups to facilitate extortion.

Like Fogel, Vinnik was not included in last year’s unprecedented prisoner exchange between the West and Russia, despite his lawyer saying at the time that he had hoped to be part of the deal between the two countries, according to the WSJ.

Fogel was sentenced to 14 years in a Russian prison in 2021 after being caught carrying a small amount of medical marijuana at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport. He was released from Russian custody on Tuesday during an unannounced visit to Moscow by US President Donald Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.

The US State Department, which formally designated Fogel as “wrongfully detained” in December, confirmed that it had attempted to secure his release as a part of the prisoner exchange that took place in August. On Tuesday it said that Fogel’s release served as a reminder that other US citizens were still in Russian prisons and that Trump was “committed to bringing all of them home”.