Overview

• A federal grand jury in Boston indicted Kseniia Petrova on June 25 on one count each of concealment of a material fact, false statement and smuggling goods into the United States.
• Prosecutors allege she failed to declare a foam box of clawed frog embryos and other embryonic samples in microcentrifuges and slides during a secondary inspection at Boston Logan International Airport in February.
• Text messages recovered from her phone reportedly show colleagues warning that the biological materials required customs declarations, contradicting her claim of unawareness.
• Petrova was released on bail on June 12 after a judge ruled her immigration detention unlawful, and she remains on pretrial release while contesting deportation.
• She has argued that returning to Russia would expose her to political persecution due to her anti-war activism, adding a human rights dimension to the legal battle.