Robert Woodland Romanov speaks to a journalist throughout his interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper in Moscow, in December 2020.
Anastasia Vardanyan/Komsomolskaya Pravda by way of AP
cover caption
toggle caption
Anastasia Vardanyan/Komsomolskaya Pravda by way of AP
Robert Woodland Romanov speaks to a journalist throughout his interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper in Moscow, in December 2020.
Anastasia Vardanyan/Komsomolskaya Pravda by way of AP
MOSCOW (AP) — A U.S. citizen has been arrested on drug costs in Russia, officers mentioned Tuesday, a transfer that comes amid hovering Russia-U.S. tensions over Ukraine.
The arrest of Robert Woodland Romanov was reported by the press service of the Moscow courts. It mentioned the Ostankino District Court docket dominated on Saturday to maintain him in custody for 2 months on costs of getting ready to become involved in unlawful drug trafficking pending an official investigation. It did not supply any particulars of the accusations.
There was no fast remark from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
Russian media famous that the identify of the accused matches that of a U.S. citizen interviewed by the favored every day Komsomolskaya Pravda in 2020.
Within the interview, the person mentioned that he was born within the Perm area within the Ural Mountains in 1991 and adopted by an American couple when he was two. He mentioned that he traveled to Russia to search out his Russian mom and ultimately met her in a TV present in Moscow.
The person instructed Komsomolskaya Pravda that he favored residing in Russia and determined to maneuver there. The newspaper reported that he settled within the city of Dolgoprudny simply exterior Moscow and was working as an English instructor at a neighborhood college.
The information concerning the arrest come as Washington has sought to win the discharge of jailed People Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich. The U.S. State Division mentioned final month that it had put a number of presents on the desk, however that they had been rejected by the Russian authorities.
Gershkovich, a Wall Road Journal reporter, was detained in March whereas on a reporting journey to the Russian metropolis of Yekaterinburg, about 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) east of Moscow. He has remained behind bars ever since on espionage accusations that he and the Journal have denied. The U.S. authorities has declared him to be wrongfully detained.
Whelan, a company safety government from Michigan, has been jailed in Russia since his December 2018 arrest on espionage-related costs that each he and the U.S. authorities dispute. He was sentenced to 16 years in jail.
Analysts have identified that Moscow might be utilizing jailed People as bargaining chips amid U.S.-Russian tensions that soared when Russia despatched troops into Ukraine. At the least two U.S. residents arrested in Russia in recent times — together with WNBA star Brittney Griner — have been exchanged for Russians jailed within the U.S.
