American convicted on drug-related charges in Russia loses appeal

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MOSCOW (AP) — A court in the Russian capital on Tuesday rejected an American citizen's appeal against against his sentence on drug-related charges.

In July, Moscow's Ostankino District Court convicted Robert Woodland, a Russia-born U.S. citizen, of attempted trafficking of illegal drugs and sentenced him to 12 1/2 years in prison. The Moscow City Court on Tuesday upheld the verdict, rejecting Woodland's appeal.

Russian media reported that his name matches a U.S. citizen interviewed in 2020 who said he was born in the Perm region in the Ural Mountains in 1991 and adopted by an American couple at age 2. He said he traveled to Russia to find his mother and eventually met her on a TV show. Russian media reports said that Woodland also holds Russian citizenship.

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