MOSCOW (Sputnik) — In early September, Russian media reported about an open letter written by the pilot's mother, Lyubov Yaroshenko, to US President Barack Obama, calling on the US leader to free her son. On the same day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed the letter in a phone conversation with US State Secretary John Kerry.
"On September 12, I was summoned by a prison representative, who gave me a document and asked me if I wanted to be transferred under the Strasbourg convention. I replied that I should make such a request myself in accordance with the rules…I had to respond. Of course, I want to be transferred to a prison Russia, I will have much more rights and freedoms there. And I signed this document on September 13," Yaroshenko said in an interview with the Russian Izvestia newspaper, published on Tuesday.
The pilot expressed hope in a more positive outcome this time but said this was less likely as it is easier to refuse a private individual request than an official one.
"I did not ask [to make a request], but I was forced to say yes or no. Can you see the difference? To officially respond to the Russian Justice Ministry is one thing and to reply to me, a regular prisoner, is another thing altogether," he said, expressing doubt in the US side's intentions and speculating that the move may be a delaying tactic.
The Justice Ministry told the newspaper that it had not been notified of Yaroshenko's request.
Yaroshenko was sentenced to 20 years in prison for conspiring to import more than $100 million worth of cocaine into the United States, having been arrested in Liberia in 2010 and subsequently extradited to the United States.
The Russian authorities have repeatedly expressed concern over the circumstances of the pilot's arrest and the poor conditions of his detention.
