Kremlin Says U.S. Will Release a Russian in American Custody

A Russian imprisoned in the United States will be freed “in the coming days” in exchange for the release this week of the American schoolteacher Marc Fogel, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.

Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, told reporters that Russia would not identify the prisoner until after the release.

Mr. Peskov said that intense talks between the United States and Russia had led to “both the release of Fogel as well as one of the citizens of the Russian Federation currently held in detention facilities in the United States.”

Mr. Peskov added, “This citizen of the Russian Federation will also be returned to Russia in the coming days,

American officials had no immediate comment.

Mr. Fogel, who had spent more than three years in prison in Russia, returned to the United States from Moscow on Tuesday on a private jet with Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s Middle East envoy, whose portfolio has expanded to include Russia and its war in Ukraine.

He was greeted at the White House by Mr. Trump, whom he praised and thanked for arranging his release.

While the White House referred to Mr. Fogel’s release as an “exchange,” it was not immediately clear who, or what, the Kremlin would get out of the deal.

Mr. Fogel, 63, had worked at the Anglo-American School of Moscow for almost 10 years before being arrested at a Moscow airport in August 2021.

He was found to have been traveling with cannabis, which his lawyer has said was intended to alleviate back pain.

Mr. Fogel was convicted in June 2022 for what the Russian authorities said was engaging in “large-scale drug smuggling” and sentenced to 14 years in a high-security prison.

The U.S. State Department publicly declared Mr. Fogel “wrongfully detained” in December. The designation — described by his family as long overdue — meant that Mr. Fogel’s case shifted to a special State Department office focusing on the release of hostages held abroad.

Mr. Fogel’s family said in December that he had endured “unimaginable hardship” in prison, while other Americans held in Russia were brought home in three different prisoner swaps.

If the United States does free a Russian in return for Mr. Fogel’s release, the delayed trade would be a striking departure from the tight choreography of prisoner swaps between Moscow and Washington during the Biden administration.

In high-profile deals like the ones that freed the basketball star Brittney Griner in 2022 and the journalist Evan Gershkovich in 2024, the Americans were flown to airports in a third country, where they were exchanged for Russians on the tarmac.

The delayed approach allowed Mr. Trump to claim an unalloyed win on Tuesday without discussing what the United States gave up in return for Mr. Fogel.

Mr. Trump said that “we were treated very nicely by Russia,” and that the deal could pave the way to an end to the war in Ukraine. He added, “I hope that’s the beginning of a relationship where we can end that war.”

The unusual circumstances of Mr. Fogel’s release included his retrieval by Mr. Witkoff, a real estate developer who is one of Mr. Trump’s most trusted lieutenants.

Mr. Witkoff flew into Moscow on his private jet on Tuesday to bring back the American prisoner. It was the first time a senior U.S. official had visited the Russian capital since 2021, making clear that Mr. Trump was departing from the Biden administration’s strategy of diplomatically isolating Russia.

It remained unclear what Mr. Witkoff did while on the ground in Moscow. Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Mr. Peskov declined to comment on whether Mr. Witkoff had met with President Vladimir V. Putin.

Referring to the deal’s significance for Russia’s relationship with the United States, Mr. Peskov said: “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 that is now at its lowest point.”