The Americans Left Behind in Russia After Historic Prisoner Swap

When news reports started to emerge from Russia about airplanes taking off from Moscow as part of a momentous international prisoner exchange, Marc Fogel’s family went into action.

Fogel, an American high-school teacher, had spent three years of a 14-year sentence in Russian prisons after being convicted of smuggling roughly 17 grams of marijuana into the country. He said he had intended to use the drug for medical purposes to treat chronic pain.

Fogel’s name often had been included in discussions of potential swaps between the U.S. and Russia, but the gathering rumors gave his relatives...