U.S. frees jailed Russian cybercriminal after Russia releases teacher Marc Fogel

Good morning,

I'm Choi Chi-hee,

And this, is The World Now.

With expectations growing over a possible peace deal in Ukraine, the United States and Russia conducted a prisoner exchange, for the first time in six months, involving American teacher Marc Fogel and Russian cybercrime suspect Alexander Vinnik.

On Wednesday, the U.S. released Alexander Vinnik, co-founder of the cryptocurrency exchange BT-e, who had been detained since 2017 on charges of laundering over 4 billion U.S. dollars through the platform.

Vinnik admitted to being part of a money laundering scheme and was waiting to be sentenced in the U.S.

Moscow released Marc Fogel, a 63-year-old American schoolteacher based in Russia, who was arrested in 2021 for having medically prescribed marijuana and was sentenced to 14 years in a Russian prison.

Fogel returned to the U.S. on Tuesday and was welcomed by President Donald Trump.