American school teacher released from prison in Russia
Newshour
BBC
4.4 • 984 Ratings
🗓️ 11 February 2025
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
American schoolteacher and former diplomat Marc Fogel has been released from prison in Russia and is on the way home to the US. The sixty-three year old teacher was detained in 2021 after he was found to be carrying a small amout of medical marijuana. He was then given a fourteen year prison sentence. Newshour speaks to his sister, Anne Fogel.
Also in the programme: Donald Trump faces Jordan's King Abdullah in The White House in their first meeting since the US president proposed moving Gaza's population to Jordan; the European Union says it will respond "fimly" to Trump's new proposed steel tariffs while also adding the EU is committed to finding a mutually beneficial solution; and mounting concerns over the Covid-19 whistleblower's health in a Chinese prison as reports suggests she's on hungar strike.
(Photo: Marc Fogel (right) pictured with his sisters. Credit: Anne Fogel)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service. I'm Celia Hatton, coming to you live from London. |
| 0:10.1 | Let's start with the news that the American school teacher, Mark Fogel, has been released from prison in Russia. |
| 0:16.9 | He's on his way home to the U.S. |
| 0:19.4 | The U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said in a statement, |
| 0:22.8 | Mr. Fogel's release had been negotiated as part of an exchange with Russia, |
| 0:27.7 | though he didn't offer more details. |
| 0:30.5 | Mr. Walz said Mr. Fogel's release was a show of good faith from the Russians |
| 0:34.7 | and a sign we are moving in the right direction to end the brutal |
| 0:39.1 | and terrible war in Ukraine. The 63-year-old teacher was detained in 2021 after he was found to be |
| 0:46.4 | carrying a small amount of medical marijuana. He was then given a 14-year prison sentence. |
| 0:52.8 | In a minute, we'll hear from Mark's sister. But first, to |
| 0:55.9 | Steve Rosenberg, the BBC's Russia editor who's speaking to us live from Moscow, Steve, Russia hasn't |
| 1:03.2 | commented on the release, but what have you been hearing about how this was agreed? |
| 1:08.8 | Yeah, it's interesting. We haven't heard from the Russian side. |
| 1:12.7 | As you mentioned, Mark Fogel had been given a 14-year prison sentence. |
| 1:18.2 | But everything changed earlier today when Donald Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, |
| 1:24.5 | Steve Whitkoff, flew to Russia, flew to Moscow to secure Mark Fogel's |
| 1:29.1 | release. He was able to do that. And later, Donald Trump's national security device, |
| 1:35.8 | Mike Waltz, issued the statement that you mentioned. And it's worth looking at what he said |
| 1:41.1 | again, because I found it quite interesting. So he said that the Trump administration had negotiated an exchange |
| 1:48.4 | that serves as a show of good faith in the Russians |
| 1:52.1 | and a sign we're moving in the right direction to end the war in Ukraine. |
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