Things to know about Russia’s release of American Marc Fogel and the impact on ending Ukraine war

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The U.S. and Russia agreed to a prisoner swap involving Marc Fogel, an American schoolteacher who the Biden administration had deemed wrongfully detained by Russia, in a diplomatic move that the White House said could move forward negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.

Soon after, President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to begin working toward winding down the conflict in Ukraine.

Here are some things to know about the prisoner swap:

Fogel, an American history teacher from just outside Pittsburgh, was traveling to Russia to work at a Moscow school in 2021 when he was detained. His family and supporters said he had been traveling with medically prescribed marijuana.

Almost a year later, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison. The Interfax news agency said Fogel taught at the Anglo-American School in Moscow and had worked at the U.S. Embassy. Interfax cited court officials as saying Fogel admitted guilt.

The State Department in December announced that Fogel had been designated by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained.

While not yet publicly announced, Alexander Vinnik, a convicted Russian criminal, was being freed in exchange for the release of Fogel, according to people familiar with the deal who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic details.

Vinnik was arrested in 2017 in Greece at the request of the U.S. on cryptocurrency fraud charges. He was later brought to the U.S. and pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was being held in California before the swap was finalized, the officials said.

Fogel flew back to the U.S. late Tuesday after more than three years of detention and was welcomed at the White House by Trump. Standing next to Trump with an American flag draped around his shoulders, Fogel said he felt like the luckiest man on Earth.

The White House on Wednesday declined to disclose Fogel’s whereabouts, saying that he had spoken with his wife, his two children and his 95-year-old mother.

Following the prisoner exchange, Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a long phone call and agreed to begin negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Ukraine was the main focus of the call, during which Putin emphasized the need to remove the root causes of the conflict and agreed with Trump that a long-term settlement could be achieved through peace talks.

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Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.