An American citizen who attempted to enter the country with a little amount of medical marijuana has been imprisoned for more than a year and a half in a number of Russian prisons; however, that American is not Brittney Griner.
Marc Fogel is the name of the prisoner, and unlike Griner, whose release was obtained by the Biden administration in a well-publicized prisoner swap, Fogel’s chances of returning home are still quite uncertain.
Fogel’s story is remarkably similar to that of Griner, whose arrest in Russia in February 2022 has made national headlines. Like Griner, 61-year-old history teacher Fogel from Pennsylvania was detained by Russian authorities in August 2021 after customs officials at a Russian airport found about half an ounce of medical marijuana hidden in his luggage. Fogel lived in Russia while working at the Anglo-American School in Moscow. Fogel’s reasons for needing the medications, which were provided to him by doctors in the U.S. to assist relieve chronic pain brought on by a number of accidents and operations, were irrelevant. A Russian court found him guilty on drug trafficking charges 10 months later, in June 2022, and handed down a 14-year prison term. Fogel was moved from a detention facility in Moscow to one of Russia’s notorious penal colonies in October, where he will now serve the remainder of his term.
Even though the facts of the Griner case and those of the Fogel case are very similar, the public’s reaction to the two cases has been very different. Griner’s arrest, which occurred just weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine, provoked an international uproar. Many observers contended that Griner had been used as a negotiating chip in Russia’s tense standoff with the United States. Griner was released this week in a one-for-one prisoner swap for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout after the State Department found that she was being “wrongfully imprisoned” in May.
Fogel, in comparison, hasn’t drawn much notice from the general public. Despite repeated requests from a bipartisan group of senators and Fogel’s attorneys, the State Department has not given him “wrongful detention” designation. (A State Department spokesman declined to comment on the particulars of Fogel’s case, saying: “The Department regularly evaluates the circumstances underlying the detentions of American citizens abroad, including those in Russia, for evidence that they are unjust.”) Griner and Paul Whelan, an American businessman and former Marine who has been detained in Russia since 2018 on espionage allegations, have received more public attention than Fogel’s captivity.
Former U.S. government officials who knew Fogel in Moscow are still perplexed by the case’s relative obscurity.
The former U.S. ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, whose son was a student of Fogel’s at the Anglo-American School, said, “It’s a bit puzzling to me that we [aren’t] talking about three Americans — now, happily, two Americans — instead of just one.
He was a member of our community, so he’s not just some random man who got caught, claimed McFaul. He instructed our children, the children of American government officials, and the children of our armed forces.
Pressure is building on the Biden administration to focus on Fogel now that Griner has been released. Reiterating earlier requests that the State Department designate Fogel as an unlawful detainee, Reps. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.) and Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) urged on the White House to give Fogel top priority in any future prisoner exchanges on Thursday. While meeting with senior State Department officials, Fogel’s family is still largely in the dark about the progress of any negotiations for his release.
Sister of Marc Fogel Anne Fogel stated in an interview that “we’re not privy to any of that information.” Although they claim to be working on it, we just don’t know.
