Russian Harvard biologist Kseniia Petrova describes year-long U.S. case after charges dropped
U.S. prosecutors have dropped smuggling charges against Kseniia Petrova, a Russian biologist at Harvard Medical School detained in 2025 over undeclared frog embryo samples. In an interview with Meduza she describes her detention, jail time and the support she received.
A U.S. court on November 4 dismissed the case against Kseniia Petrova, a Russian biologist at Harvard Medical School, after prosecutors withdrew smuggling charges. They cited an assessment of the office's priorities and resources. Petrova was detained in February 2025 on her return to the United States from a work trip to France, accused of trying to bring in frog embryos for research. The case prompted widespread outrage in the scientific community. Petrova has openly opposed Russia's war on Ukraine and is now seeking political asylum in the U.S.
In an interview with the news outlet Meduza, she confirmed that all charges were dropped, including the one for making false statements. She suggests a court ruling in the spring may have played a part. One of her lawyers had filed a petition arguing the prosecution was vindictive and linked to the administration's campaign against Harvard. The court agreed it was suspicious that criminal charges appeared after two months in immigration detention, and ordered prosecutors to hand over additional documents.
Detention at the airport
Petrova says her visa was revoked at Boston's airport, and after she answered that she feared extradition to Russia, she was taken into custody. After a week in a Vermont jail she was handed to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The questioning was carried out by an officer of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). A judge ruled in August this year that revoking the visa was unlawful.
On the false statement charge, she explains that she had split the samples into two batches and, tired and jet-lagged, forgot about the one in her luggage. She says the samples were prepared for microscope examination and were not alive.
Support
Petrova says Harvard is covering her legal fees, and that members of Congress, Nobel laureates Paul Nurse and Martin Chalfie, and other scientists backed her publicly. Her research supervisor Leon Peshkin, expected to be a witness, left the country and declined to testify citing health reasons.
