A Moscow court ordered preventive detention for a US citizen arrested at the beginning of the month and accused of drug trafficking, Russian judicial sources reported yesterday.
“In a decision taken on January 6, the Ostankinski court in Moscow decided (…) to detain Robert Romanov Woodland for two months, until March 5, 2024,” the press service of the Moscow courts said in a statement.
According to the same source, the North American citizen is accused, in particular, of “acquiring, possessing, manufacturing and transporting” drugs “in large quantities”, a crime punishable by a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
In recent years, several US citizens have been arrested and sentenced to long prison terms in Russia. Washington has criticized Moscow for “promoting” arrests and then exchanging prisoners for Russians detained in the United States.
A former marine, Paul Whelan, has been detained in Russia since 2018 following being 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, also accused of espionage.
Last October, Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who works for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), was also arrested. The journalist is on trial for spreading “false information” regarding the Russian Army.
In December 2022, American basketball player Brittney Griner, convicted in Russia for cannabis trafficking, was released in exchange for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who was imprisoned in the United States.
