US prosecutors drop charges against Russian scientist held over frog embryos
A US judge on Wednesday dismissed all criminal charges against Kseniia Petrova, a Russian scientist at Harvard. She spent four months in immigration detention after flying into Boston with frog embryos for research, The Guardian reported.
US District Judge Leo Sorokin on Wednesday granted prosecutors' request to dismiss all charges against Kseniia Petrova. He did not hold a hearing, The Guardian reported. Petrova, 31, is a Russian scientist who brought frog embryos into the US for cancer research at Harvard Medical School. Petrova was arrested in March 2025 at Boston's Logan International Airport. She was returning from a holiday in France, where she had visited a laboratory that cuts extremely thin sections of frog embryos. There she picked up a package of samples for her research in the US. Customs officials questioned her about the samples. She was later charged with smuggling, concealing facts and making false statements to government officials. The case began to unravel when a federal judge ruled that a customs officer had improperly cancelled her visa. Petrova had feared deportation to Russia, where she could face prison. She had fled Russia after being arrested for protesting against the invasion of Ukraine. A judge ordered her release in May 2025. On Tuesday night, US Attorney Leah Foley filed a motion to drop the case. She cited "developments in this case and an assessment of the office's…
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