Theprisonerswapwith Russia that made it possible for four high-profile Americans toreturn to the United States is obviously welcome news. Both they and their families endured enormous hardships that no American should have to face.
But we shouldremember those who didn’t make it home – and continue to push for their timelyrelease.
Onenotableexample is Marc Fogel. Fogel, 63 years old, taught at AAS Moscow (formerly known as the Anglo-American School of Moscow). In 2021, he was detained for possessing less than an ounce of medical cannabis that he was prescribed for chronic back pain. Fogel wassentencedto 14 years in a Russian penal colony for drug smuggling and possession. Today, his health is deteriorating.
The United States has not officially declared Marc Fogel, right, to be wrongfully detained, despite quickly doing the same for Brittney Griner after her detention in Russia for the same crime. (Photos courtesy Ellen Keelan and Lisa Hyland)
The United States has not officially declared Fogel to be wrongfully detained, despite quickly doing thesamefor Brittney Griner after her detention in Russia for the same crime. On Thursday, however, national security adviser Jake SullivandescribedFogel as “wrongfully detained,” the first time an American official has done so.
DON’T FORGET ABOUT MARC FOGEL, ANOTHER AMERICAN WRONGFULLY DETAINED IN RUSSIA
For me, Fogel’s case is personal. When I attended the Anglo-American School of Moscow in 2012, his wife, Jane, was my science teacher. Many of my friends that took Fogel’s classes considered him a great teacher and an even greater person.
It is both disappointing and frustrating that an American who dedicated his professional career to teaching American students studying abroad in a dangerous country has been, once again, left behind.
Marc Fogel, right, with his family. (Photos courtesy Ellen Keelan and Lisa Hyland)
Unfortunately, Fogel’s case is part of a broader Russian tactic to gain leverage over the United States. Inreturnfor the American and Germanprisoners involved in Thursday’sswap, Russia welcomed thereturn of convicted cybercriminals and murderers. Two of these criminals, Vladislav Klyushin and Roman Seleznev, stole more than $100 million from Americans through cybercrimes.
Some mayrecall that, in exchange for Griner’srelease, the U.S.returned Viktor Bout,knownas the “Merchant of Death” and considered one of the world’s most dangerous arms dealers. The pattern is clear: Russia will detain and unjustly convict Americans assuming the U.S. government will be willing to trade high-value individuals in exchange for their safereturn to America.
VideoRussia is not alone. In 2016, for example, China arrested Kai Li of Huntington, New York, on “state security charges” andheldhim in secret detention without access to legal counsel. In July 2018, Kai was secretly convicted of espionage andremains in a Chinese prison.
Russia and China continue to seize Western citizens, including academics, tourists and journalists, to use as bargaining leverage for political objectives and to secure their ownprisoners.
The U.S. government must continue to make the safereturn of Americans wrongfully detained back to the homeland a top priority. Every administration has an obligation to secure and protect the rights of Americans, especially those unjustly held overseas.
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In Fogel’s case, that means the State Department should formally declare him wrongfully detained by the Russian government, as they did when Griner was convicted of the same crime. As Fogelwroteto his wife, “Teachers are at least as important as bballers.”
The fight to bring home all wrongfully detained Americans never stops. For some, like Fogel, time is not on their side.
Andrew J. Harding is researcher in the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation.
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