If I feel I’m seen as an enemy by Putin there is no way in hell I’m going higher than the first floor of any building.
Russia Catch-All | Trump calls for Russia to be returned to G7
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If I feel I’m seen as an enemy by Putin there is no way in hell I’m going higher than the first floor of any building.
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Could be nothing … maybe the Russian national team is doing a coaching search? Maybe Witkoff only likes the caviar you can only get in Moscow? Or maybe this dude is wrong?
This guy is a respectable reporter at Haaretz
Russia Releases U.S. Prisoner After Talks With Trump Envoy
The Kremlin freed Marc Fogel, a teacher held for more than three years on drug charges, in a deal negotiated by Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s Middle East envoy.“… Marc Fogel, a teacher who was arrested on charges of bringing medical marijuana into Russia in August 2021, was released by the Kremlin and flown out of the country on Mr. Witkoff’s plane. Though he began serving a 14-year sentence in June 2022, Mr. Fogel was only classified as wrongfully detained by the Biden administration late last year. …”
MOUNTAINH33L
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I don't anticipate ever visiting Russia, but if I do I know for certain I will not bring anything that remotely passes for drugs. Hell I wouldn't bring tylenol.
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Wonder what we’re giving in return. Times article was unable to discover.
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And stay away from any windows not on the ground floor.
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Russian released as part of Fogel exchange and will return home soon, Kremlin says
“A Russian citizen was released as part of an exchange involving American teacher Marc Fogel and will return to Russia soon, the Kremlin said.
Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated Wednesday that a recent intensification of contacts between Russian and US departments led to Fogel’s release, as well as “one of the citizens of the Russian Federation” who is “currently being held in detention in the United States.”
…
Another American is expected to be released, according to Trump. A number of Americans are still being held in Russia, and at least two have been classified as wrongfully detained: Stephen Hubbardand Russian-American dual national Ksenia Karelina.
The deal to release Fogel, who was designated as wrongfully detained by the US State Department, was negotiated by Trump, Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff, “and the President’s advisers,” according to a statement from national security adviser Mike Waltz. …”
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‘Did You Forget About Marc Fogel?’: An American Teacher Is Released From Russian Prison
His mother lobbied Trump at a campaign event in Butler, Pa., just before an assassination attempt. Now her son is back.
“Just minutes before President Trump escaped an assassin’s bullet at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., he held a brief backstage meeting with a 95-year-old local woman whose son, Marc Fogel, had spent three years in a Russian jail.
Linking arms with Trump, Malphine Fogel recounted her son’s ordeal, how she was struggling to get the Biden administration to prioritize his case and her fears for his health. Flashing a thumbs-up before a camera, Trump promised to “get him out,” then invited her onto the VIP section of the stage to watch him speak.
She was only feet away from the rostrum when shots rang out, with a single bullet grazing Trump’s ear.
… On Tuesday, the high school history teacher who ultimately spent 1,277 days in Russian custody flew back to the U.S. with special envoy Steve Witkoff and met with President Trump at the White House. “I feel like the luckiest man on earth right now,” Fogel said. “I will forever be indebted to President Trump, to Steve over there.”
…Fogel’s arrest—for flying into Moscow with medically prescribed marijuana—became a fraught test of Washington’s efforts to determine which Americans jailed overseas are worthy of rescue. The 63-year-old, who worked at the elite Anglo-American School in Moscow, was one in a string of Americans arrested as Vladimir Putin turned to invade Ukraine. At first Russia seemed to view him as a catch of considerable value: His past students included the adolescent children of William Burns, Biden’s Central Intelligence Agency director; and Michael McFaul, ambassador to Moscow during the Obama administration. He was given 14 years, one of the longest drug sentences in Russia’s post-Soviet history.
And yet the arrest of “Mr. Fogel,” as his students called him, failed to break through with the U.S. public and was soon eclipsed. Six months into his detention, the same Russian customs unit at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport arrested WNBA star Brittney Griner and charged her with possession of marijuana products, under the same statute in the Russian criminal code.
The Biden administration quickly designated Griner “wrongfully detained” and within 10 months of her arrest exchanged her for convicted arms trafficker Viktor Bout.
Fogel had knowingly flown in with 17 grams of marijuana, 24 times the trace amounts found on Griner, who said she had simply forgotten to remove two vape cartridges from her luggage.
Fogel then watched from a succession of prison cells and a hard labor camp as other Americans—including former Marines Paul Whelan and Trevor Reed and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich—were listed as wrongfully detained by the State Department and traded for Russian prisoners in U.S. and European jails.
“It’s just so unfair, it’s too much to take,” he said in a tearful phone call on speaker phone with his family in the hours after the Aug. 1 prisoner exchange that freed Gershkovich and Whelan. …”
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Continued
“… after years of failing to get her son designated as wrongfully detained, sued the State Department.
But that lawsuit made it harder for State Department officials to communicate with the family and explain the efforts they were making. Right up until the Biden administration’s final days, its senior officials said they were pushing for Fogel’s release, on humanitarian grounds—a follow-up to the Aug. 1 swap. In December, Biden’s State Department officially declared Fogel wrongfully detained.
“We’re constantly trying different arrangements, different offers to see what we can do,” then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Journal shortly after the August exchange. “We don’t take a minute off to get others home, including Marc.”
On the surface, the Fogel case was straightforward. A teacher flying into Russia for his last school year before retirement committed the crime of carrying the medical marijuana he used to dull his back pain.
But the operation to detain him, a Journal review found, was more complicated, an extensively coordinated trial run for future arrests, planned by the Kremlin as it snuffed out one of the last institutions beyond its control—an American embassy school—according to legal documents, interviews with U.S. officials and Fogel himself.
Russian security services were surveilling the campus for a pretext to discredit and ultimately close what had become the school of choice for the post-Soviet elite, beyond the reach of Putin’s tightening rules over the classroom. And in Fogel’s suitcase, they found one. …”
“… after years of failing to get her son designated as wrongfully detained, sued the State Department.
But that lawsuit made it harder for State Department officials to communicate with the family and explain the efforts they were making. Right up until the Biden administration’s final days, its senior officials said they were pushing for Fogel’s release, on humanitarian grounds—a follow-up to the Aug. 1 swap. In December, Biden’s State Department officially declared Fogel wrongfully detained.
“We’re constantly trying different arrangements, different offers to see what we can do,” then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Journal shortly after the August exchange. “We don’t take a minute off to get others home, including Marc.”
On the surface, the Fogel case was straightforward. A teacher flying into Russia for his last school year before retirement committed the crime of carrying the medical marijuana he used to dull his back pain.
But the operation to detain him, a Journal review found, was more complicated, an extensively coordinated trial run for future arrests, planned by the Kremlin as it snuffed out one of the last institutions beyond its control—an American embassy school—according to legal documents, interviews with U.S. officials and Fogel himself.
Russian security services were surveilling the campus for a pretext to discredit and ultimately close what had become the school of choice for the post-Soviet elite, beyond the reach of Putin’s tightening rules over the classroom. And in Fogel’s suitcase, they found one. …”
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US to swap Marc Fogel for Russian cybercrime kingpin Alexander Vinnik: Official
US to swap Marc Fogel for Russian cybercrime kingpin Alexander Vinnik: Official
Detained in Russia since 2021, Fogel landed back in the U.S. on Tuesday.
“The United States is preparing to return cybercrime kingpin Alexander Vinnik to Russian custody as part of an exchange for American Marc Fogel, a U.S. official said Wednesday.
… The owner and operator of one of the world's largest currency exchanges, Vinnik was allegedly instrumental in facilitating the transfer of billions of dollars for criminals across the globe, supporting drug trafficking rings, ransomware attacks and the corruption of public officials.
Last year, Vinnik pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder billions of dollars through cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e. The Department of Justice alleged under Vinnik's operation, BTC-e facilitated over $9 billion in worldwide transactions, serving as one of the main ways for cyber criminals to launder and move their criminal proceeds.
BTC-e has been implicated in multiple wide-ranging crimes, according to the Department of Justice, which alleges Vinnik himself was responsible for more than $120 million in losses.
…
Vinnik was arrested in Greece in July 2017 after he was charged in a 21-count indictment that implicated the Russian cryptocurrency operator in the infamous 2014 hack of Mt. Gox, which at one point handled more than 70% of the world's bitcoin transaction. The DOJ alleges Vinnik laundered money he received as a result of the hack to conceal his involvement in the subsequent investigation of Mt. Gox's collapse.
Vinnik and his lawyers have been outspoken about their interest in a potential prisoner swap, making the unusual request in 2023 to be released from a protective order so they could lobby for an exchange. …”
BillOfRights
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Callatoroy
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Could be nothing … maybe the Russian national team is doing a coaching search? Maybe Witkoff only likes the caviar you can only get in Moscow? Or maybe this dude is wrong?
This guy is a respectable reporter at Haaretz
G650s are nice wonder how many the US owns?
Callatoroy
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These people have y'all in an absolute state of hysterics. Nothing pays and gets clicks like ginning up fear and panic.
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Turned out Witkoff, not the USA, did own this one. Last time I looked there were about 500 out there total, no idea of how that’s spread out worldwide.
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Turns out they ended production just recently at 600 and are transitioning to the G800
End of an Era as the Last G650/650ER Rolls Off Gulfstream’s Production Line | AIN
The model that redefined the ultra-long-range business jet segment—the G650/650ER—has now ended production, Gulfstream Aerospace said today.
www.ainonline.com
Callatoroy
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Promptly move this to the trump props thread.
Callatoroy
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500 G650s or similar? Holy shit that's a lot of planes. Not arguing for or against, just that that is a bunch of planes
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Now 600 of the G650 — the entire run of that model, apparently
The range made them super in demand.
BillOfRights
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So now, all of a sudden, you realize how fox news and other right-wing media, social media and podcasters got Trump elected