Robert Woodland, a 32-year-old US citizen adopted from Russia as a toddler, has been sentenced to a 12-and-a-half-year prison term in Moscow.
The sentence follows his return to Russia in search of his biological mother, where he was arrested earlier this year on drug charges.
Woodland’s legal troubles began after he chose to remain in Russia following a dramatic reunion with his birth family on a Russian television show. He was found guilty by a Moscow court of attempting to traffic a significant quantity of drugs as part of an organized group.
During his court appearance, Woodland was pictured inside a glass courtroom box with a shaved head, briefly smiling before the verdict was delivered. Russian media identified him as an English teacher interviewed by Komsomolskaya Pravda in 2020, where he recounted being born in Russia’s Perm region in 1991 and adopted by an American couple at the age of two.
Woodland’s legal defence maintained that Moscow lacked evidence linking him to drug sales, a claim reiterated by his lawyer, Stanislav Kshevitskii, in April. However, Kshevitskii did not immediately comment following the court’s decision.
Woodland’s case adds to recent tensions between the US and Russia, with Washington accusing Moscow of detaining Americans as political leverage amidst ongoing conflict in Ukraine. His sentencing coincides with the trial of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, also a US citizen, facing espionage charges in Russia.
