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Jailed Russian pilot Yaroshenko provided with medical aid

The Russian diplomatic mission in the US informed earlier that Yaroshenko might have suffered a mild stroke

Konstantin Yaroshenko Valery Matytsin/TASS

Konstantin Yaroshenko

© Valery Matytsin/TASS

ROSTOV-ON-DON, March 2. /TASS/. Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who is currently serving a prison sentence in the US, has been provided with medical aid in prison, his wife Viktoria Yaroshenko told TASS on Monday.

The Russian diplomatic mission in the US informed earlier that Yaroshenko might have suffered a mild stroke. "Konstantin Yaroshenko told our diplomats over the phone that the prison’s medical personnel had not provided him with any medical assistance. The health condition of our compatriot is worsening. Konstantin does not rule out that he may have had a mild stroke," the diplomats noted. Yaroshenko’s wife also informed earlier that one of the pilot’s legs had gone numb. Russian diplomats sent a note to the US Department of State on February 26 demanding that Yaroshenko receive urgent medical care.

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Jailed Russian pilot Yaroshenko may have suffered mild stroke

"He [Konstantin Yaroshenko] began to receive medical aid. Kostya [Konstantin] is very grateful to our diplomats who became involved in the situation. <…> He contracted some kind of virus, his leg started to cover with ulcers. Now they are giving him antibiotics, they are treating his leg," the wife said.

Konstantin Yaroshenko was convicted in the United States on September 7, 2011 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He pled not guilty and described his arrest as a provocation and the whole case as a frame-up. Yaroshenko was brought to the United States from Liberia, where he was arrested on May 28, 2010. Agents of the US Drug Enforcement Administration allegedly exposed Yaroshenko’s criminal intent to transport a large batch of cocaine.

The Russian authorities and the pilot’s family in Rostov-on-Don have repeatedly asked the United States for Yaroshenko’s handover to Russia.

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