Russian court jails US man on drug charges
Robert Woodland, 32, was detained in Moscow in January and accused of attempting to sell a substantial amount of methadone.
A U.S. citizen has been sentenced to 12.5 years in a maximum-security penal colony by a Russian court after being convicted on drug charges.
Robert Woodland, 32, was detained in Moscow in January and accused of attempting to sell a substantial amount of methadone.
According to Reuters, Woodland’s lawyer said he had partially confessed to the charges.
Woodland, who was born in Russia and adopted by an American family at the age of two, traveled to the country in 2020 in search of his birth mother, a journey that was featured on a Russian reality TV show.
He is the latest American to be imprisoned in Russia, with some Western officials suggesting that the Kremlin is "collecting" U.S. citizens to use as leverage in potential exchanges for Russian operatives detained abroad.
After Woodland's conviction on Thursday, Russian prosecutors claimed he was caught packaging a large quantity of narcotics in a Moscow apartment.
They alleged he had been collaborating with a major criminal organization and had transported 50 grams of the drug from a location outside the city.
Initially, Woodland’s lawyer, Stanislav Kshevitsky, denied the charges, arguing that officials had provided "no evidence" of drug sales in court.
However, he later told Reuters that Woodland had admitted to some of the allegations, though it is unclear which specific charges he has accepted.
Footage broadcast by Russian state media showed Woodland sitting in a glass enclosure in court, staring ahead as the verdict was read.
Reports indicate that after meeting his birth mother in 2020, Woodland decided to stay in Russia and worked as an English teacher near Moscow. His emotional reunion with his mother was televised at the time.
