Marc Fogel. Submitted

Fifteen members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation are urging federal officials to include international teacher and Butler native Marc Fogel in any potential prisoner swaps made with the Russian government.

On Dec. 21, Sens. Bob Casey, D-Pa.; John Fetterman, D-Pa.; and U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th, alongside a slew of other Pennsylvania lawmakers penned a bicameral letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, asking that he ensure Fogel is included in any prisoner swap made with Russia.

Fogel had taught around the world for decades and at the Anglo-American School in Moscow for over 10 years before his arrest. He was detained in Russia in August 2021 for possession of medical marijuana for which he had a prescription to treat his severe back injury.

“During this holiday season, we join our constituents urging the Biden administration to redouble its efforts to secure Mr. Fogel’s release from Russian custody so that Mr. Fogel may return home to his wife, 94-year-old mother, and the rest of his family,” the letter read.

“I certainly hope they don’t forget him,” his mother, Malphine Fogel, said. “Anytime I heard (a prisoner swap) mentioned, (Marc’s) name is not there.”

Fogel’s mother said she hopes her son would be included in a possible prisoner swap, but noted that he has not been designated as wrongfully detained unlike Marc Whelan and Evan Gershkovich.

“That may make a difference,” she said.

She said family members and strangers have called and written to Blinken, but have never heard from him directly.

Under federal law, Fogel meets at least six of the 11 established criteria to be designated as wrongfully detained by the State Department and has yet to be classified as wrongfully detained.

The latest phone call from Fogel to his mother came a few days before lawmakers made the announcement.

Fogel calls his mother through the Russian Embassy every week, traveling through a different building on the penal colony before first checking to see if the phone is available, his mother said.

“I can tell he’s down,” Malphine Fogel said. “I suppose it’s the holidays. He knows his family is here, together. I can tell he’s a little depressed, which he’s always tried to hide.”

Recently, the father of two told his mother that a Russian professor of English had recently been incarcerated in the maximum-security prison. He was glad that he would now have someone to converse in English with in prison, his mother said.

“It’s a big deal,” she said. “I think this professor will be able to get him books in English.”

Earlier in his prison sentence, Fogel held informal English classes with about 12 fellow inmates before they were disbanded by prison authorities.

A few months ago, Fogel’s lawyer appealed his release to Russian authorities, but was denied, his mother said.