Trump administration secures release of American teacher detained by Russia

WASHINGTON -- The administration of US President Donald Trump on Tuesday secured the release of Marc Fogel, an American teacher detained by Russia.

US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said in a statement that Fogel was flown out of Russian airspace after "an exchange" was successfully negotiated with Russia through the effort made on the US side by Steve Witkoff, Trump's Middle East envoy, and the president's other advisors. Fogel was accompanied by Witkoff, who was in Russia to finish off the exchange.

Offering little detail about the deal, the statement did not mention what and how many persons were given to the Russian side by the United States to swap Fogel out of Russia, saying only that the exchange "serves as a show of good faith from the Russians and a sign we are moving in the right direction to end the brutal and terrible war in Ukraine."

"By tonight, Marc Fogel will be on American soil and reunited with his family and loved ones," the statement said.

"We were treated very nicely by Russia, actually," Trump said in the Oval Office later Tuesday. "I hope that's the beginning of a relationship where we can end that war and millions of people can stop being killed."

The president said he will meet with Fogel at the White House around 10 p.m. Tuesday Eastern Time.

According to a previous report by CNN, Fogel, 61, had worked for nearly a decade as a history teacher at the Anglo-American School in Moscow, where children of US diplomats were among his students.