A Moscow court has placed in pre-trial detention a 32-year-old Russian-American citizen arrested in early January and tried in a drug case, Russian justice said on Tuesday, amid tension between Russia and the United States.
• Read also: American Paul Whelan, detained in Russia, feels “abandoned” by Washington
“By a decision taken on January 6, the Ostankinsky court in Moscow chose (…) to place Robert Romanov Woodland in detention for two months, until March 5, 2024,” the press service of the Moscow courts.
According to this source, he would be accused in particular of “acquisition, possession, manufacture and transport” of drugs “in large quantities”, a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
The Russian news agency Interfax, citing the police, stated for its part that Mr. Woodland was arrested in possession of approximately 4.5 grams of the drug.
According to the agency, Mr. Woodland is of Russian and American nationality.
The Ria Novosti news agency assured that the US embassy in Moscow has not yet directly contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry to obtain consular access.
In recent years, several American citizens have been arrested and sentenced to heavy sentences in Russia, and Washington has often accused Moscow of doing so to exchange them for Russians detained in the United States, amid the conflict over the conflict in Ukraine.
In recent weeks, however, Vladimir Putin and the United States have assured that they are working on developing “an agreement” between Moscow and Washington on the exchange of prisoners, on conditions that according to Russian opinion must “suit” both parties. President. .
The American authorities have regretted the fact that Moscow has rejected, at this stage, all the exchange offers made by Washington.
Since 2018, a former marine, Paul Whelan, has been imprisoned in Russia and was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020 for espionage.
At the end of March 2023, the security services also arrested Evan Gershkovich, an American journalist for the Wall Street Journal, who was also accused of espionage.
Last October, Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who worked for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), was also arrested. She is mainly prosecuted for spreading “false information” about the Russian army.
In December 2022, American basketball player Brittney Griner, convicted in Russia on cannabis trafficking charges, was released against Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer imprisoned in the United States.
2024-01-09 15:54:27
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