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Russia requests US to free Russian inmates amid coronavirus pandemic, says diplomat

Commenting on the situation around Russian pilot Yaroshenko sentenced to 20 years in prison in the US, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the ministry was closely monitoring his state of health

MOSCOW, April 23./TASS/. Moscow expects a positive response from Washington to its request to free all Russians under investigation or sentenced to a prison term in the US, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing on Thursday.

"Back on March 24, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov sent a verbal message to US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo to free out of humanitarian considerations not only Konstantin Yaroshenko, but also all nationals of our country who are in the US under investigation or have been sentenced to prison terms there. Additionally, a note was relayed to the US Embassy in Moscow. We hope that the official Washington will shortly give a positive response to our requests, which would help save the lives and preserve health of Russian nationals," Zakharova said.

Commenting on the situation around Russian pilot Yaroshenko sentenced to 20 years in prison in the US, she said that the Foreign Ministry was closely monitoring his state of health. "The situation with medical service in American prisons does not add tranquility. As far as it is known, difficulties emerge even with routine examinations and with obtaining specific medicines in case of necessity," she pointed out.

On April 20, Yaroshenko’s lawyer Alexei Tarasov told TASS that his client had learnt about the death of one of his cellmates infected with coronavirus. According to Tarasov, Yaroshenko told him that a man who slept on a bed next to his’ had died. "His bed was two meters away from mine," Tarasov quoted him as saying. The attorney said Yaroshenko is kept in a general cell accommodating about 100 inmates. "Yaroshenko says everyone there is in panic," Tarasov said.

The attorney said his client told him that the man had been sick for three days but had received no medical assistance. "He was taken to isolation when he was so sick that he could not get up from the bed and was suffocating. In a while, they learnt that the man had died because of coronavirus," Tarasov said.

Yaroshenko "is having all the coronavirus symptoms" and thinks he has contracted the disease, the attorney said, adding that no medical assistance had been offered to the Russian national.

On April 3, Yaroshenko’s defense, sent a petition to the prison administration and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, asking to release the jailed Russian national over the spread of coronavirus.

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.