ROSTOV-ON-DON, May 16. /TASS/. The health of Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in a US prison, has not improved after surgery on removing stomach tumors, he requires an additional medical examination, his wife Viktoria Yaroshenko informed TASS.

Earlier, the pilot requested a transfer to a different prison, as the prison in Danbury where he is currently staying does not provide sufficient medical aid. In late April, the Russian national underwent surgery, during which the doctors removed several benign tumors from his stomach.

"I cannot say that he is feeling better - it’s the same as it was. The doctors inform that he has liver problems, and it needs to be examined as soon as possible," Yaroshenko’s wife informed, noting that a request must be filed for a subsequent examination, which may be processed for an unspecified amount of time.

She noted that the pilot’s family addressed Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova with the request to transfer Yaroshenko to a different prison, however, they received no response so far. Earlier on Thursday, Moskalkova told reporters that she is monitoring the situation.

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.

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