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Russia embassy in US requests extra medical examination of jailed Russian pilot Yaroshenko

According to the Russian diplomat, "during the latest medical examination Yaroshenko complained of nothing and felt well"

NEW YORK, April 17. /TASS/. Russia’s embassy to the United States has requested an extra medical examination of Russian pilot Viktor Yaroshenko, who is serving a 20-year prison term in a US prison, following reports that he has coronavirus symptoms, as follows from Ambassador Anatoly Antonov’s statement posed on the embassy’s Facebook account.

"On our part, we have requested an additional medical examination. We will insist on concrete measures to prevent his infection with COVID-19," the ambassador said. "Russian diplomats are keeping a close eye on the health condition of all Russian nationals who are kept at penitentiary establishments in the United States."

According to the Russian diplomat, "during the latest medical examination Yaroshenko complained of nothing and felt well."

"We will continue to demand Russian nationals be released on humanitarian reasons," Antonov noted, adding he had personally appealed to US Attorney General William Barr and Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons Michael Carvajal. "I called on them to look at a possibility of repatriating Russian inmates for humanitarian reasons," he said.

After a conversation with Yaroshenko on Thursday, his attorney Alexei Tarasov told TASS his client "has all the symptoms of a coronavirus infection." "He is sure absolutely all inmates have caught the coronavirus," Tarasov said.

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.

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