GOP lawmakers say the Biden State Department is not placing the same urgency to bring home American Marc Fogel, who Russian authorities have imprisoned, that officials put on Women’s National Basketball Association player Brittney Griner, who was in a similar situation last year.
The letter, spearheaded by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul of Texas, was sent to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The lawmakers say they have “serious and growing concerns” that the State Department has not provided information on why Mr. Fogel, whom Russia has detained for a year and a half, has not been classified as “wrongfully detained” under the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act.
Ms. Griner was finally released from a Russian jail last December in a prisoner swap for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, known internationally as the Merchant of Death, who was serving a 25-year sentence in a U.S. federal prison. Mr. Fogel, a resident of Pennsylvania, taught history courses at schools attended by children of U.S. diplomats in Colombia, Venezuela, Oman, Malaysia and Russia. Upon his return to Moscow in August 2021 to continue his decadelong position at an Anglo-American school, he was detained by authorities at Sheremetyevo with just over half an ounce of medical marijuana that was prescribed to him.
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