A Russian adopted by Americans went to visit his homeland: he was arrested there

In January, American Robert Romanov-Woodland was detained in Russia on charges of drug trafficking on a large scale as part of an organized group. He appeared in court in March, reports Voice of America.

Photo: iStock.com/Ignatiev

If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

Woodland, 32, was arrested in January and his trial began in the Ostankino District Court at the end of March.

Prisoners have limited contact with their loved ones. Whelan's brother David said they had not heard from him since December 31 because prison phones were "out of order", reports Dailymail.

A new court hearing is scheduled for next week.

On the subject: An American with Russian roots was arrested for treason when she went to visit relatives in the Russian Federation.

In January, the US State Department said it was aware of the recent detention of an American citizen and noted that it has “no higher priority than the safety of US citizens abroad.”

However, the department refrained from further comments, citing confidentiality considerations.

At the same time, the US Embassy in Moscow made a similar statement.

American's story

In 2020, Woodland, known to friends as "Rob", told a Russian newspaper that he was adopted by US citizens from an orphanage in Perm, in the Urals, in 1993 and taken to live in the US.

Woodland attended high school in upstate New York and appears to have both a Russian and an American passport.

According to Rob, he was simply sold.

“I know this story from my American parents. At an agency for the adoption of children from Russia, they were shown a video of me playing in a Russian orphanage. And they announced the price - $10 thousand,” said Rob.

Woodland said that he has wonderful adoptive parents in the United States.

“I can honestly say that I was happy in my American family. My parents are simply wonderful. They are both scientists, they worked, as it is now fashionable to say in Russia, remotely. They spent a lot of time with me and my younger sister. She was also taken from an orphanage. Only from California. They never had their own children. They loved us very much,” Woodland said at the time.

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In 2020, the man said in an interview that he was born in the Perm region in the Urals in 1991. He was adopted by an American couple when he was 2 years old. He said he went to Russia to find his Russian mother and eventually met her on a TV show in Moscow.

“Mom cried and asked for forgiveness. But I forgave her before this meeting. I was never angry with her. I just always missed her very much,” the man said then.

Now Galina Romanova, who works in the school canteen, is 50 years old. She has lived almost all her life in the village of Kasib, Perm Territory, from where her son was taken to the United States.

“Mom then ended up in the hospital because my father, with whom she was not married, severely beat her. She says that’s when they took me to the baby’s home - and that’s all. She didn't see me again. She says she was looking for me. But I was so pretty that I was quickly sold to the USA,” said Robert.

“I stayed with them for a short time and went back to the USA. But after this meeting my life simply turned upside down. I was drawn to Russia with terrible force. And here I am. I made the decision to stay in my home country forever,” Woodland said in a 2020 interview.

He settled in the town of Dolgoprudny near Moscow and worked as an English teacher at a local school.

As ForumDaily wrote earlier:

• American in Russia is accused of selling drugs: three years ago he found his biological mother there and moved to her from the USA.

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