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No COVID-19 detected so far in Russian inmates in US jails, Foreign Ministry says

Currently around 100 Russian citizens are being held in the US prisons and pre-trial detention facilities

MOSCOW, July 30. /TASS/. Selective testing for the coronavirus infection of Russian citizens held in American prisons showed a negative result, deputy head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Information and Press Department Alexey Zaytsev said at a briefing on Thursday.

"Some of the Russians held in American prisons were tested for the coronavirus - they all had negative results," he said.

According to the diplomat, in the pandemic conditions the cooperation was activated with the US authorities to provide aid to Russian citizens located in penitentiaries and to protect their interests. "We will continue to try to attain from Washington the release of the most vulnerable categories of inmates - those whose lives and health are being threatened," the diplomat said, reiterating that currently around 100 Russian citizens are being held in the US prisons and pre-trial detention facilities.

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