MOSCOW — A U.S. citizen arrested on drug expenses in Moscow amid hovering Russia-U.S. tensions appeared in court docket on Thursday and had his case adjourned till mid-Could.
Robert Woodland is dealing with expenses of trafficking massive quantities of unlawful medication as a part of an organized group — a legal 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 Courtroom in late March.
“Our place is that there’s, I’ll say, no proof of drug gross sales within the supplies on the case,” his lawyer Stanislav Kshevitskii instructed reporters.
The court docket set his subsequent listening to date to Could 14.
In January, the U.S. State Division stated it was conscious of stories of the current detention of a U.S. citizen and famous that it “has no better precedence than the security and safety of U.S. residents abroad,” however shunned additional remark, citing privateness concerns. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow issued an identical assertion on the time.
Russian media famous that the identify of the accused matches that of a U.S. citizen interviewed by the favored day by 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 2. He stated that he traveled to Russia to search out his Russian mom and finally met her on a tv present in Moscow.
The person instructed 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 trainer at an area college.
Arrests of Individuals in Russia have develop into more and more widespread as relations between Moscow and Washington sink to Chilly Conflict lows. Washington accuses Moscow of concentrating 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.