MOSCOW (AP) — A U.S. citizen arrested on drug expenses in Moscow amid hovering Russia-U.S. tensions over Ukraine appeared in court docket on Monday.
Robert Woodland Romanov is dealing with expenses of trafficking massive quantities of unlawful medication as a part of an organized group — a prison offense punishable by as much as 20 years in jail. He was remanded into custody in January, and the trial started within the Ostankino District Court docket in late March. A brand new court docket listening to is scheduled for subsequent week.
In January, the U.S. State Division stated it was conscious of reviews of the current detention of a U.S. citizen and famous that it “has no higher precedence than the protection and safety of U.S. residents abroad,” however avoided additional remark, citing privateness issues. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow issued the same assertion on the time.
Russian media famous that the title of the accused matches that of a U.S. citizen interviewed by the favored each day Komsomolskaya Pravda in 2020.
Within the interview, the person stated that he was born within the Perm area within the Ural Mountains in 1991 and was adopted by an American couple when he was two. He stated that he traveled to Russia to seek out his Russian mom and ultimately met her in a TV present in Moscow.
The person advised Komsomolskaya Pravda that he preferred residing in Russia and determined to maneuver there. The newspaper reported that he settled within the city of Dolgoprudny simply outdoors Moscow and was working as an English instructor at an area college.
Arrests of Individuals in Russia have change into more and more frequent as relations between Moscow and Washington sink to Chilly Warfare lows. Washington accuses Moscow of focusing on its residents and utilizing them as political bargaining chips, however Russian officers insist all of them broke the legislation.
Some have been exchanged for Russians held within the U.S., whereas for others, the prospects of being launched in a swap are much less clear.
