Russian convict in USA needs surgery

The lawyer of Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was convicted in the U.S., said that his client was in need of surgery, but the administration of the U.S. prison, where Yaroshenko is staying, is not ready to provide medical care to the Russian citizen. 

Doctors at Trenton Hospital, New Jersey, where the patient was examined, concluded that Yaroshenko needed surgery because of injuries that he had received while being arrested in Liberia. Earlier, the prisoner's family stated that the pilot was tortured after the arrest.

On Tuesday, Yaroshenko's mother asked the Russian authorities to exchange her son for a U.S. citizen who was serving a prison sentence in Russia. In turn, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on May 7, that Moscow confirmed its intention to seek Yaroshenko's repatriation. Russia has the same intention about another Russian convict in the U.S. - Victor Bout, the minister added.

The pilot was arrested in Liberia in May 2010 on charges of transporting four tons of cocaine from Venezuela to the territory of the African country, and their further transportation to the United States. Yaroshenko was delivered to U.S. authorities and sentenced to 20 years in prison.