US citizen arrested in Moscow on drug charges appears in court

(25 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Moscow, Russia - 25 April 2024
1. Various of Robert Woodland Romanov entering court room, defendant’s glass cage
2. Zoom to Woodland Romanov's hands in handcuffs
3. Close of Woodland Romanov in glass cage
4. Lawyers Stanislav Kshevitskii and Alexei Miroshnichenko greeting Woodland Romanov
5. Various of Woodland Romanov in glass cage
6. Wide of lawyers approaching journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Alexei Miroshnichenko, lawyer:
"He was allegedly detained possessing drugs. This is the official accusation."
Stanislav Kshevitskii, lawyer:
"But this issue is the subject of proof and challenge in this trial. Therefore, it is somewhat premature to say anything yet. But our position is that there is, I may say, no evidence of drug sales in the materials on the case."
8. Court exterior
9. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Alexei Miroshnichenko, lawyer:
"He was born in Russia to his mother in the Perm region. His mother abandoned him and he was adopted by adoptive parents from the United States. Then something happened that I can’t say in detail, but he somehow found his biological mother, how it was, who wrote where, I don’t know, it’s of little interest to me, but in a word, he returned here, decided to stay in Russia and received a second Russian citizenship. But he did not live in the Perm region, he began to live in Moscow. That's his story."
10. Various of court exterior
STORYLINE:

A U.S. citizen arrested on drug charges in Moscow amid soaring Russia-U.S. tensions over Ukraine appeared in court on Thursday.

Robert Woodland Romanov is facing charges of trafficking large amounts of illegal drugs as part of an organized group — a criminal offense punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

He was remanded into custody in January, and the trial began in the Ostankino District Court in late March.

A new court hearing is scheduled for 14 May.

In January, the U.S. State Department said it was aware of reports of the recent detention of a U.S. citizen and noted that it “has no greater priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas,” but refrained from further comment, citing privacy considerations.

The U.S. Embassy in Moscow issued a similar statement at the time.

Russian media noted that the name of the accused matches that of a U.S. citizen interviewed by the popular daily Komsomolskaya Pravda in 2020.

In the interview, the man said that he was born in the Perm region in the Ural Mountains in 1991 and was adopted by an American couple when he was two.

He said that he traveled to Russia to find his Russian mother and eventually met her in a TV show in Moscow.

Lawyers confirmed the information Thursday.

The man told Komsomolskaya Pravda that he liked living in Russia and decided to move there.

The newspaper reported that he settled in the town of Dolgoprudny just outside Moscow and was working as an English teacher at a local school.

Arrests of Americans in Russia have become increasingly common as relations between Moscow and Washington sink to Cold War lows.

Washington accuses Moscow of targeting its citizens and using them as political bargaining chips, but Russian officials insist they all broke the law.

Some have been exchanged for Russians held in the U.S., while for others, the prospects of being released in a swap are less clear.

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