US citizen detained in Russia on alleged drug charges, Moscow court says

By Anna Chernova and Rob Picheta, CNN

(CNN) — A US citizen has been arrested in Moscow on drug-related charges, according to an official statement released Tuesday.

The citizen, named as Robert Woodland, is accused of preparing and attempting a crime, as well as illegally dealing with drugs.

“By a resolution of the Ostankino District Court of Moscow dated January 6, 2024, Woodland Robert Romanov was given a preventive measure in the form of detention for a period of 2 months, that is, until March 5, 2024,” the Russian court’s statement reads.

Pro-Kremlin tabloid Komosomolskaya Pravda reported earlier that Woodland is an US citizen of Russian origin, who was adopted by scientists from the US and 27 years later returned to Russia.

The tabloid has previously reported on Woodland, writing in December 2020 that he told them he was two years old when he was brought to the United States.

“I immediately ended up in the home of foster parents. I remembered absolutely nothing about my homeland,” he was quoted as saying. “Even my own mother’s face seemed erased. Until I was four years old, I thought that David and Marcia were my real mom and dad. And then they told me the truth.”

Komsomolskaya Pravda reported he was born on December 7, 1991, his real name was Roman Romanov, and he comes from the Perm Krai region, far from Moscow and just West of the Ural mountains. The tabloid reported he was working as an English teacher at the time of the 2020 interview.

Woodland told the newspaper: “I can honestly say that I was happy in my American family. My parents are simply wonderful. They are both scientists, they worked, as it is now fashionable to say in Russia, remotely. They spent a lot of time with me and my younger sister. She was also taken from an orphanage. Only from California. They never had their own children. They loved us very much.”

Last month Yuri Malev, a Russian-US dual national, was detained in St. Petersburg over accusations he showed “clear disrespect” toward the military and was therefore “vindicating Nazism” in social media posts, the Smolninsky District Court said in statement.

That arrest followed a string of high-profile detentions of US citizens and dual nationals in Russia, including Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter. The US classifies Gershkovich as wrongfully detained.

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