(Moscow) A US citizen has been arrested in Moscow on charges of “violence” against law enforcement, the Russian Investigative Committee said on Wednesday, more than two weeks after an exchange of major prisoners between Moscow and Washington.
According to investigators, the unidentified man was taken to a police station in the Russian capital for acts of “vandalism.”
“The accused refused to provide documents proving his identity, after which he used violence against a law enforcement officer,” the Investigative Committee said in a statement posted on Telegram.
The American citizen will be “charged in the near future,” he added. He faces up to five years in prison, according to Russian agencies.
The incident comes as Washington accuses Moscow of specifically targeting American citizens in Russia as bargaining chips for Russians held in the West.
The 1er In August, the largest prisoner exchange since the Cold War took place between the two rival powers, allowing the release of journalists and opponents detained in Russia in exchange for spies imprisoned in the West.
Other citizens of the United States and other Western countries remain in Russian prisons on various charges.