ROSTOV-ON-DON, May 25. / TASS /. Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who is serving a 20-year sentence in an American prison in Danbury, Connecticut, has applied for a liver examination because of deteriorating health after surgery to remove tumors from his stomach, the pilot's wife Victoria Yaroshenko told TASS on Saturday.

Earlier, Yaroshenko repeatedly complained of toothaches and stomach problems. His condition did not improve after the removal of a number of benign tumors from his stomach, the doctors advised to check the liver, but it was necessary to file a request for a new procedure. Also on Friday, it became known that the Human Rights Ombudsman in Russia Tatyana Moskalkova appealed to the US Attorney General to transfer the prisoner to Russia, given the "progressive deterioration of his health."

"He sent a request [for a liver examination] to the medical unit," his wife said, noting that the problems that the husband had before the recent operation returned. "His health worsened in that after the surgery, the illness signs are back, stomach pains and everything else," she added.

Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov notified Yaroshenko via letter that the US Department of Justice is considering Russia’s request for his extradition in accordance with the 1983 Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons.

Yaroshenko case

Yaroshenko was arrested in Liberia in May 2010, and was later clandestinely transferred to the United States. In September 2011, he was found guilty of conspiring to smuggle a major cocaine shipment into the US, and sentenced to 20 years behind bars. However, Yaroshenko pleaded not guilty, saying that his arrest was a setup and the case was fabricated.

The Russian was first sent to the Fort Dix Federal Correctional Institution, but in mid-June, 2018, he was first transferred to a transit prison in Brooklyn, New York, and then to the Danbury prison, which holds more than 1,400 inmates.

Yaroshenko’s wife Viktoria said earlier that doctors at the Danbury prison had removed benign tumors from his stomach.

Russian officials and the pilot’s family have on numerous occasions requested that Washington extradite him to Russia.