BOSTON — A Russian-born scientist and Harvard University researcher, who was already facing deportation, was charged Wednesday for allegedly attempting to smuggle frog embryos into the United States.
Kseniia Petrova, 30, was vacationing in France in February when she obtained frog embryo samples to be used for research, CBS News reports. When she returned, Petrova was questioned about the samples as she passed through a U.S. Customs and Border Protection checkpoint at Logan International Airport.
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Following an interrogation, Petrova was reportedly told her visa was being cancelled and she was sent to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Louisiana. In April, the Department of Homeland Security wrote in a social media post that Petrova was detained after “lying to federal officers about carrying substances into the country.” They allege messages on her phone “revealed she planned to smuggle the materials through customs without declaring them.”
Hours after Petrova’s attorneys appeared in federal court in Vermont for a habeas hearing, federal prosecutors charged her with one count of smuggling goods into the U.S. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts said Petrova was taken into federal custody following the unsealing of the charges. If convicted, she faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
“Almost immediately after the hearing, we were blindsided by the unsealing of a meritless criminal complaint. The timing of Kseniia’s transfer out of ICE custody into criminal custody is especially suspect because it happened right after the judge in Vermont set a bail hearing for her release,” Petrova’s attorney Gregory Romanovsky said in a statement. “The charge, filed three months after the alleged customs violation, is clearly intended to make Kseniia look like a criminal to justify their efforts to deport her.”
Last month, Petrova told The Associated Press that she didn’t realize the items needed to be declared. Leon Peshkin, Petrova’s boss and mentor, told the AP that the samples were not dangerous or biohazardous.
“I don’t think she did anything wrong, but even if she did, at most she should have gotten a warning or maybe a fine of up to $500,” he said. “I think that there is a wrong perception that foreign scientists are somehow privileged to be in the United States. I feel it’s the opposite. Foreign scientists come here with gifts … they are highly skilled experts who are in demand. They enrich the American scientific community.”
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Petrova said she fled Russia to avoid conflict and potential political repression after the country invaded Ukraine in Feb. 2022.
“If I go back, I am afraid I will be imprisoned because of my political position and my position against war,” she said.
