She went from New York to a Russian prison. Will she be freed?

WASHINGTON – Wearing his only well-fitted suit, Harold Jezler pushed through a crowd of government officials, journalists and executives inside a ballroom blocks from the White House.

The acupuncturist scanned the room as guests in suits and evening gowns shook hands and sipped Pinot Noir. He approached a group of State Department officials and asked for Sebastian Gorka, the top counterterrorism adviser to President Donald Trump.

He left, a woman told him.

Harold sighed. His jaw tightened as beads of sweat gleamed on his forehead. Sensing his disappointment, the woman said she could deliver a message on his behalf. Harold thanked her and pressed an envelope into her hands.

Inside was a letter addressed to Trump, pleading with the president to help free his wife from a Russian penal colony, where she has endured harsh conditions for nearly four years – roughly half the time they’ve been married.

“Please bring Olga home,” the letter reads. “Only you can save her.”

Olga Jezler, 36, was among several U.S. nationals and permanent residents arrested by Russian authorities after President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. A judge sentenced the green card holder to 10 years in prison on drug charges that her family, hostage advocacy groups and members of Congress describe as unjust.

"Based on the facts as relayed to us by Olga’s family, we believe that the Russian government convicted Olga despite the evidence in her case in order to imprison an American-affiliated person for future leverage with the United States," said a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. George Latimer.

While others have been freed in high-profile prisoner exchanges, Olga, a Russian citizen who was arrested on during a trip to help her sister through cancer treatment, remains behind bars. Her family said they are worried for her health and what they described as little visible movement in her case.

Now Harold and two American women who were once imprisoned in Russia are leading a renewed effort to free his wife, Olga. According to hostage advocates, she is the only woman with American ties being wrongfully detained in the country.

“We want a family. We want children,” Harold, 38, said. “We can’t wait much longer.”

In a statement to USA TODAY, the State Department said it's closely tracking Olga's detention and is working diligently to secure her release, along with all Americans wrongfully and unjustly detained in Russia. The agency declined to comment on the specifics of Olga's case, citing privacy concerns.

From New York suburb to Russian penal colony

Harold met Olga at a taco bar in Westchester, New York, in March 2017. At the time, she was studying English on a student visa. Their first date was at an Italian restaurant in Brooklyn, where she had been living.

“We hit it off,” he said. “I was driving to Brooklyn constantly to see her.”

On the second anniversary of their first date, Harold proposed in a garden outside the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. – the city where they took their first trip together as a couple.

In June 2022, Olga traveled to Russia to be with her sister while she underwent breast cancer treatment. Like she had on previous trips, she brought supplements not available in Russia, along with CBD oil, a non-addictive compound derived from the hemp plant sometimes used to help pain and anxiety. The State Department advises against bringing CBD products to Russia, saying possession or use "is illegal and carries severe punishments."

When Olga landed in Moscow, Russian authorities searched her bags and questioned her for hours. They allowed her to leave, but the next day called her back for more questioning. Harold said he urged Olga not to go without a lawyer, but she was adamant that it was a simple misunderstanding. She had brought CBD oil on at least three previous trips to Russia and never had a problem.

This time was different.

When she returned to the airport, police accused her of possessing highly-concentrated hash oil and placed her under arrest, Harold said. The following year, a judge sentenced her to 10 years in prison on possession and drug trafficking charges – a ruling that stunned her family.

“We all thought she was going to get probation,” he said. “It was devastating.”

Americans as bargaining chips

Olga was one of several U.S. nationals and permanent residents taken into custody by Russian authorities in the lead-up to the invasion of Ukraine and the months that followed.

“We saw a large spike at the end of ’21 and the beginning of ’22,” said Elizabeth Richards, director of research at the Foley Foundation, one of the nation’s leading hostage advocacy groups. “Our assessment is that [Putin’s government] carried out those arrests intentionally and targeted Americans.”

Russia generally denies that it has wrongfully detained Americans for political purposes. USA TODAY has reached out to the Russian embassy for comment.

A few months before Olga's arrest, WNBA star Brittney Griner was detained at the same Moscow airport. Russian authorities accused Griner of carrying illegal hash oil and sentenced her to nine years in prison on drug smuggling charges.

The same year, Russian authorities convicted schoolteacher Marc Fogel of drug smuggling after he was arrested for marijuana possession. American journalists were also imprisoned, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

Each of those Americans was later released as part of deals brokered under former President Joe Biden and the current Trump administration. Most of them were handed over in exchange for Russian nationals serving prison sentences in the U.S.

As of May, at least seven American citizens and lawful permanent residents remain wrongfully detained in Russian prisons, including Olga, according to the Foley Foundation. The U.S. government does not release data on wrongful detentions and largely carries out its work out of public view.

Tensions with Moscow may complicate efforts to free detainees

Trump, much like during his first term, has made hostage recovery a central pillar of his national security agenda. (He's previously called himself the "greatest hostage negotiator this country has ever had.")

Last year, 34 Americans were released from captivity, the highest annual total in more than two decades, according to the Foley Foundation. Nearly half were released from Venezuela; others returned from about seven other countries, including Afghanistan, China and Belarus.

Two Americans, including Fogel, were released as part of deals that were seen as signs of progress between Washington and Moscow toward ending the war in Ukraine.

“We were treated very nicely by Russia,” Trump said at the White House after Fogel’s release in February 2025. “I hope that’s the beginning of a relationship where we can end that war.”

But diplomatic relations hardened over the following months, as progress on ending the war appeared to stall. On May 8, Trump announced a three-day ceasefire and prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine, which he described as the "beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard fought war."

While the ongoing conflict could complicate the return of Olga and other U.S. nationals and green card holders, experts said there's always a path for recovery – pointing to a number of high-profile prisoner swaps under the current and previous administrations.

"The government has been able to negotiate with our adversaries during ongoing conflict or rising tension in order to bring our civilians home," said Danielle Gilbert, an assistant professor at Northwestern University who specializes in hostage diplomacy. "Those channels will always exist."

The State Department told USA TODAY that bringing wrongfully detained Americans is a priority for the Trump administration.

Hand-written letters, monitored phone calls

Harold said he barely slept for months after Olga's arrest. His acupuncture business suffered and he struggled to pay his bills, forcing his parents to step in to help him financially.

Much of his time was spent conferring with lawyers in Russia appealing the conviction. Despite what supporters describe as overwhelming evidence in her favor, the courts denied at least four challenges to Olga's sentence.

Initially, the couple communicated through letters or occasional electronic messages as Olga was transferred to different facilities across the country. But there was a problem: Russian authorities largely restrict prisoners from speaking English and Harold is not fluent in Russian.

When he received his wife’s hand-written letters, Harold would pass them along to Olga's relatives to be translated. Later, when authorities began allowing regular phone calls, Harold had Olga's friends listen in. When no one's available, Harold says he tries his best to understand what his wife is telling him.

“Our conversations are about hearing each other’s voice and staying connected,” he said. “I get to feel how she’s feeling. I tell her whatever’s on my mind, but it’s not like we’re having substantial conversations.”

What Olga has made clear, even through rough translations, are the dire conditions she’s faced in prison.

The hard bed. The timed, cold showers. The endless chores. The constant surveillance.

Harold said that while he tries to comfort Olga, he feels like a “fraud” when he tells her that everything is going to be OK.

“It’s been almost four years,” he said. “You say the same thing over and over but nothing's changed.”

Former Russian prisoners join the fight for Olga's release

In August 2024, Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva and two other Americans were released from Russia in what was the largest East‑West prisoner swap since the Cold War. Kurmasheva had spent nine months in custody after being convicted of “spreading false information” about Russia’s military.

Shortly after her release, Kurmasheva received an email from Harold’s father asking for help to free his daughter-in-law from Russian custody. Kurmasheva said she was “deeply traumatized” and wasn't ready to get involved. But she soon did after reading about the case.

“I couldn’t believe that this happened,” Kurmasheva said. “I was arrested for being American, for being a journalist. I co-edited a book – obviously something the Russians would hate and feel threatened by. Olga was arrested only for being an American national. Nothing else.”

The following spring, Ksenia Karelina, a Russian-American amateur ballerina, was released from a Russian penal colony as part of a prisoner swap brokered by the Trump administration. She had been imprisoned for more than a year on charges of treason stemming from a $52 donation to a charity aiding Ukraine.

Within months of her release, Karelina made advocating for Olga’s freedom a personal mission. “It resonated with me right away,” she said. “We have very similar cases, and we’re almost the same age.”

Like Olga, both women were arrested while caring for their relatives. Karelina had traveled to Russia to visit her elderly grandparents, while Kurmasheva returned to support her ailing mother.

Over the last few months, the pair have worked to get Olga’s case in front of the president.

In August, Karelina wrote Trump a letter thanking him for her release and urging him to do the same for Olga. During a Fox News interview with Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, Karelina spoke at length about Olga’s case. In March, both women sent a joint letter to first lady Melania Trump, pleading for her to help the aspiring mother.

They have yet to receive a response.

Meanwhile, the two have sent letters and postcards to Olga in prison. Karelina said she asks simple questions – “What’s your favorite season?” “What’s the best city you’ve visited?”

During her own time in a penal colony, it was those very questions that brought her moments of relief.

“Even if I was in the worst mood, I would think of an answer and transport into another world,” she said. “It gave me an escape.”

A long day in Washington

Harold met Kurmasheva and Karelina for the first time in Washington on May 5.

All three traveled to the capital for a glitzy awards ceremony hosted by the Foley Foundation. While they were set to be honored at the event, they had a mission of their own: to bring more attention to Olga’s case.

That afternoon, all three appeared on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” marking the first national television segment focused on Olga’s imprisonment.

Hours later, they gathered at the National Press Club, a short walk from the White House. The guest list included senior officials from the State Department’s hostage affairs office, along with Gorka, a close adviser to Trump.

Early in the ceremony, Harold was invited onstage to light a candle in honor of his wife and other families waiting for loved ones to come home. Later, when Kurmasheva accepted an award for press freedom, she used the moment to call for Olga’s release.

When he heard his wife’s name spoken from the podium, Harold smiled.

Though he did not speak with Gorka, Harold passed his letter to the official's assistant and spoke with Adam Boehler, Trump’s special envoy for hostage affairs. Boehler confirmed the U.S. government is aware of Olga's case.

Two days after the ceremony, Harold spoke with Olga over the phone and told her about the progress he made in Washington.

While he didn't understand every word, Harold said he could hear the excitement in her voice.

Christopher Cann is a national reporter for USA TODAY. Contact him at [email protected].