Sen. Daines And Former Russia Diplomat Urge Blinken To Designate Marc Fogel as 'Wrongfully Detained' In Russia

U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) and former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul published an open letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging the Biden Administration to “immediately designate Mr. Marc Fogel as wrongfully detained and prioritize securing his release.”

Fogel, who previously worked at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow was employed as an English teacher at the Anglo-American School also in Moscow. At the time of his arrest, Fogel had a doctor's recommendation for medical marijuana from a physician in Pennsylvania to treat chronic back pain.

Fogel, who is in his 60s, argued that he was not aware that medical marijuana was illegal in Russia.

Despite this, Fogel was sentenced on June 16, 2022, to “unconscionable, 14 years of hard labor.” 

“We write to urge you to immediately designate Mr. Marc Fogel as wrongfully detained and prioritize securing his release. The top responsibility of any administration needs to be the safety and security of the American people and we cannot allow innocent Americans to be used as pawns for Putin’s ambitions,” the letter says.

“Given the charges he is facing are similar to those of Brittney Griner, who was deemed to be wrongfully detained, similar actions by the State Department are warranted and every effort to secure his release should be made, including designating him as wrongfully detained,” continued the letter.

WNBA star Brittney Griner was declared “wrongfully detained” by the Biden administration two months after she was detained at a Moscow airport in February 2022 for having cannabis oil in her suitcase.

Wrongfully Detained

The change in official designation normally signals a significant shift in how officials work to gain the release of a prisoner held in a foreign country. Generally, an American held by a foreign government for the purpose of influencing U.S. policy or extracting political or economic concessions from Washington is considered “wrongfully detained.”

Last November a bipartisan group of lawmakers wrote a similar letter to Blinken.

Photo of Marc Fogel from YouTube