President Donald Trump, accompanied by Marc Fogel, speaks in the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House Tuesday in Washington. Fogel was arrested in 2021 and was serving a 14-year prison sentence in Russia. The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Marc Fogel, an American history teacher who was deemed wrongfully detained by Russia, has been released and returned to the U.S. in what the White House described as a diplomatic thaw that could advance negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.

The Kremlin said Wednesday that a Russian citizen was freed in the United States in exchange for Moscow’s release of American Marc Fogel, but it refused to identify him until he arrives in Russia “in the coming days.”

Steve Witkoff, a special envoy for President Donald Trump, left Russia with Fogel and brought him to the White House late Tuesday, and Trump welcomed him home.

“I feel like the luckiest man on Earth right now,” Fogel said as he stood next to Trump with an American flag draped around his shoulders.

Fogel, who is from Pennsylvania, has spoken with his wife, his two children and his 95-year-old mother, Witkoff said at the White House on Wednesday. He declined to disclose Fogel’s whereabouts.

Fogel also was shown the famous Lincoln Bedroom, a second-floor room in the White House once used as an office by President Abraham Lincoln. A handwritten copy of the Gettysburg Address, signed by Lincoln, is displayed on a desk in a corner of the room.

Trump said another American, someone “very special,” would be released on Wednesday, though he declined to name the person or say from what country.

The president declined to say if he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin about Fogel, but Fogel praised the Russian leader as “very generous and statesmanlike in granting me a pardon.”

Asked about the terms of the deal, Trump said: “Very fair, very, very fair, very reasonable. Not like deals you’ve seen over the years. They were very fair.”

He did not say what the United States exchanged for Fogel’s release.

Witkoff on Wednesday gave some of the credit to Mohammed bin Salman, saying Saudi Arabia’s crown prince was “instrumental” in the negotiations.

“He has a very strong friendship with President Trump, and, behind the scenes, he was encouraging and pushing and looking for the right result. It was helpful, it really was,” Witkoff said.

Asked if the crown prince was pushing the Russians, Witkoff said he was more of a “cheerleader.”

“He was a cheerleader for this rapprochement where the two leaders would come together, and that’s what happened, so thank God,” Witkoff said. “Sometimes you don’t get a good result. Here we got a very good result. Mark Fogel is the evidence of that.”

Fogel was arrested in August 2021 and was serving a 14-year prison sentence. His family and supporters said he had been traveling with medically prescribed marijuana, and he was designated by President Joe Biden’s administration as wrongfully detained in December.

Michael Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, said the U.S. and Russia “negotiated an exchange” to ensure Fogel’s release. He did not say what the U.S. side of the bargain entailed. Previous negotiations have occasionally involved reciprocal releases of Russians by the U.S. or its allies.

Waltz said the development was “a sign we are moving in the right direction to end the brutal and terrible war in Ukraine.”