An American Citizen Arrested in Russia on Drug Charges

A court in Moscow announced on Tuesday, January 9, that an American citizen has been arrested in Russia on charges of attempting to produce and sell a significant amount of illegal drugs, an offense that could carry a penalty of up to 20 years in prison. The court in the Ostankino district of Moscow stated that on January 6, Robert Romanov Woodland was detained for illegally purchasing and possessing drugs, and he will remain in custody until March 5. According to Reuters, citing the news website 'Mash', Mr. Woodland, 32, is accused of attempting to produce and sell a significant quantity of illegal drugs. A Facebook account named Robert Woodland indicates that he was working as an English teacher in Russia and resided outside Moscow. Reuters reported that it was unable to contact him. Robert Romanov Woodland had told the Russian newspaper 'Komsomolskaya Pravda' in 2020 that an American family adopted him in 1993 and took him from an orphanage in Perm in the Urals to the United States. He later returned to Russia, stating that he has wonderful adoptive parents in America but wants to find his biological mother in Russia. Mr. Woodland eventually found his real mother and said in a television interview, 'An extraordinary force pulled me to Russia. I have decided to stay forever in my homeland.' The United States claims that several of its citizens, including Paul Whelan, a former Marine, and Evan Gershkovich, a journalist for the Wall Street Journal, are wrongfully imprisoned in Russia. The U.S. State Department has repeatedly warned its citizens to leave Russia immediately due to the risk of unlawful detention and harassment by Russian security services.