The sister of Mark Fogel, an American teacher jailed in Russia for illegal possession of cannabis, has told the BBC she hopes her brother will be released in the historic US-Russian prisoner swap earlier this week.
Mr. Fogel, 63, was arrested at the airport in August 2021 and charged with carrying a small amount of medical marijuana prescribed in the United States.
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he served as a teacher at the British and American School in Moscow.
Fogel reportedly taught English to inmates while serving a 14-year sentence.
Anne Fogel said she last spoke to her brother on Wednesday, when the family made a “huge effort” to get him on a plane with other released U.S. prisoners.
Journalist Evan Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and journalist Arsu Kurmasheva were brought to the United States after being freed in the largest prisoner exchange between Russia and the West since the Cold War .
Anne Fogel detailed the family’s efforts in an interview with the BBC: “We were frantically calling senators, congressmen and our ambassador, the former Russian ambassador who served there, but I didn’t call him Any news, even though he knew what was going on.
Anne said her brother may have known the prisoner exchange was taking place because “they broadcast the news non-stop from the Russian penal colony”.
“He knew something was going on because … Paul Whelan was touched, Evan (Gerschkovich) was touched.”
After learning her brother was not involved in the swap, she said she felt “betrayed.”
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Thursday, the day of the prisoner exchange, that the United States was still “actively working to get him (Mark Fogel) released.”
The next day, President Biden said “we are not giving up on this” when asked about the Americans’ cases.
Asked if it gave her hope, Anne said: “I’m doing the best I can, so yes, in a way.
“The government has pulled off a masterful, incredible exchange and they should be congratulated… I’m very pleased with the return of Paul, Evan and Arsu.
“I just wish my brother was in it.”
Anne said her message to the White House was: “Please do whatever you can to get him out. He’s the oldest guy there and the frailest. Please help us.”
“We worked hard to get Mark involved in the deal that was completed last week,” Jonathan Feiner, deputy adviser to the White House National Security Council, told CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
“We came right back and tried to get Mark back to the United States and reunited with his family.”
He said officials were working on Fogle’s case “every day.”
Fenner declined to predict whether the American might return before the end of the Biden administration in January.
