MOSCOW: Russia has arrested and brought drug-related charges against US man Robert Woodland, who was captured by law enforcement agencies earlier this month, a Russian court said Tuesday.
Russia is holding several American citizens on espionage and other charges, as tensions between Moscow and Washington balloon over the war in Ukraine.
The court said that on January 6, the Ostankinsky District Court of Moscow issued order Robert Romanov Woodland to be arrested for a period of around two months, until March 5, 2024.”
The US national is accused of the “illegal acquisition, transportation, storage, processing, manufacture,” of drugs and faces up to 20 years in jail.
US Citizen Held in Russia on Drug Charges
Russian officials have arrested several US nationals in recent years, with critics accusing Russia of using detainees as bargaining chips to exchange Russian nationals jailed in the US.
Earlier, Paul Whelan, an ex-US military personnel was sentenced in 2020 to sixteen years in jail on spying charges that he rejects.
In late March 2023, Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich became the first Western reporter to be arrested on espionage charges in Russia since the ex-Soviet era.
US-Russian dual national, journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, was apprehended in October. In December 2022, Moscow released basketball star Brittney Griner in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout – who had been jailed in the US.
