U.S. Justice Department seeks to drop charges against Russian Harvard researcher accused of smuggling frog embryos

The U.S. Justice Department has asked the court to drop its case against Russian scientist Kseniia Petrova, who is accused of illegally importing frog embryos.The Justice Department said that “the resource costs of continuing this prosecution outweigh the public interest in its resolution.”The prosecution’s statement that continuing the trial would be too costly came after defense lawyers demanded that prosecutors disclose the circumstances of Petrova’s detention and share information about other people found to have brought in similar biological materials without declaring them.Kseniia Petrova, who works at Harvard Medical School, was detained in February while returning to the U.S. from France. Undeclared frog embryos were found in her luggage. Petrova said she did not know she was required to declare them.Petrova has been charged with smuggling, a crime that carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. She was later also charged with giving false testimony and concealing facts from investigators.Immigration authorities considered deporting Petrova to Russia. Petrova herself said deportation could endanger her, since she had publicly spoken out against the war in Ukraine.At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.