A Russian scientist, Ksenia Petrova, living and working legally in the United States, is now facing deportation back to Russia after she was detained at Boston Logan International Airport on Feb. 16 while returning from France.
Petrova had fallen afoul with Russian authorities because on Feb. 27, 2022, just days after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, she posted on her Facebook page a call to impeach Russian President Vladimir Putin. She was subsequently arrested, according to the Guardian, then managed to flee, first to the former Soviet republic of Georgia and then to the United States, to continue her research on genomes.
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Petrova worked legally at Harvard Medical School.
She was detained at the airport after returning from a conference in France because authorities found she had frog embryos meant for research in her luggage and had made some sort of paperwork mistake on the US customs declaration form, her boss at Harvard, Leon Peshkin, told the Guardian.
US officials canceled her visa and ordered her deportation, her friend Andrey Shevtsov told Russian independent media Agency.
When detained, Petrova said she feared persecution if sent back. Instead of immediate deportation, she was taken to a detention center, first in Vermont and then in Louisiana, her friend Cora Anderson wrote on Facebook.
Petrova’s supporters argue the punishment is excessive. According to Shevtsov, the maximum penalty for failing to declare such non-toxic biological samples is a $500 fine.
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“She is still in detention and no answers or timelines… We have accepted it, sent money for snacks and phone calls, sent her some books. Talk to her every day. That’s it. Does the rule of law in the USA not exist anymore?” Virginia Savova, the wife of Petrova’s supervisor, wrote on LinkedIn.
Petrova is currently being held at an immigration center in Richwood, Louisiana, in a room with several dozen women, Shevtsov said. She has limited access to remote communication, which requires payment.
She has legal representation and is applying for a new visa, but the process could take months. Meanwhile, her friends have raised over $12,000 to cover legal and other expenses.
In Russia, Petrova could face persecution due to her anti-war posts on social media, her supporters say.
The US resumed deportations to Russia in 2023, a year after pausing them, according to The Guardian. One asylum seeker has already been deported.
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