Russia Sentences US Citizen to 12 Years in Prison for Drug Trafficking

A US citizen has been sentenced to 12.5 years in a maximum security penal colony by a Russian court after being convicted of drug trafficking.

Robert Woodland, 32, was arrested in Moscow in January and accused by prosecutors of trying to sell a large quantity of methadone. His lawyer told Reuters news agency that he had partially confessed to the charges.

Mr Woodland, who was born in Russia and adopted at the age of two, travelled to the country in 2020 to reunite with his biological mother. His journey was documented by a Russian reality TV show.

He is the latest American citizen to be imprisoned in the country, with some Western officials suggesting the Kremlin is “hoarding” Americans to trade for allies and agents imprisoned abroad.

In a statement released after Mr Woodland's conviction on Thursday, Russian prosecutors said he was arrested while packing a large quantity of drugs into an apartment in the Russian capital.

They claimed he was working with a large-scale criminal group and had transported 50 grams of drugs from a collection point outside the city.

His lawyer, Stanislav Kshevitsky, initially denied the charges, saying authorities had presented “no evidence” of drug sales in court.

However, he told Reuters news agency on Wednesday that Mr Woodland had admitted to some of the charges against him. It is not yet clear which charges he has accepted.

Footage released by Russian state media shows Mr Woodland sitting in a glass cage in court, staring impassively ahead as the verdict against him was read out.

Russian media reported that Mr Woodland decided to stay in the country after meeting his mother in 2020 and working as an English teacher near Moscow. His tearful reunion with his mother was broadcast on state television at the time.

The Interfax news agency said he had both American and Russian citizenship.

At least a dozen U.S. nationals, including journalists and active-duty soldiers, are currently being held in Russian prisons and penal colonies.

Among them is Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who has been detained for more than a year on espionage charges, which he denies. The United States considers him to be “wrongfully detained.”

Western officials have long suspected that Moscow is seeking to detain Western citizens to use them as bargaining chips in prisoner swaps. U.S. law prohibits paying ransoms to terrorist groups, but successive administrations have been willing to make concessions to other states to secure the release of Americans.

That's what happened to Brittney Griner, who was released in late 2022 as part of a prisoner swap with the United States in exchange for controversial Russian arms dealer Victor Bout.

Although the U.S. State Department said earlier this year that it was aware of Mr. Woodland's case, it has avoided commenting directly on the allegations.

Instead, he issued a statement saying he had no higher priority than the safety of American citizens abroad.

U.S. officials have repeatedly warned American citizens in Russia to leave the country, citing the risk of unjustified arrest and harassment by authorities.

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