NEW YORK, December 30. /TASS/. Russian diplomats have visited Russian pilot Viktor Yaroshenko at a US prison in Connecticut, the Russian embassy said in a press statement released on its Facebook account on Monday.
According to the Russian embassy, the man "is holding on" despite the "aggravated chronic illnesses and the lack of proper medical assistance."
"The diplomats conveyed the best wishes from all those who are indifferent to the fate of compatriots. They reassured Konstantin that no effort would be spared to have him released the soonest possible," the embassy said.
The embassy also said it was still expecting a corresponding "reaction from human rights structures" to Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov’s open letter. "We will continue to help and support all Russian nationals who find themselves victims of the arbitrariness of the US judicial system," the embassy stressed.
In his open letter released in late November, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov called on the leading human rights organizations to help arrange medical and legal assistance to the US-jailed Russian national.
Konstantin Yaroshenko was convicted in the United States in September 2011 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. The pilot was clandestinely transferred to the United States from Liberia, where he had been arrested in May 2010. Agents from the US Drug Enforcement Administration operating under cover allegedly exposed Yaroshenko’s criminal intention to transport a large batch of cocaine. He pleaded not guilty, condemning his arrest as a provocation and the whole case as an utter set-up.