Harvard Researcher Charged with Smuggling Frog Embryos into the U.S.

A scientist and researcher at Harvard University who was born in Russia and was already going to be sent back to Russia was charged on Wednesday with trying to bring frog eggs into the country illegally.

Following her arrest in February, Kseniia Petrova, who is 30 years old, was sent to a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement center in Louisiana. She is still waiting for a judge to decide if she will be sent back to Russia, where she thinks she will be jailed or even worse. In Vermont on Wednesday, her case went to court.

The new twist in the case is that she was charged with one count of bringing goods into the US illegally. It says that she was arrested on Wednesday. Petrova could get up to 20 years in jail and a $250,000 fine if she is found guilty.

It was not possible to get Petrova’s lawyer to respond. Not sure if she is being moved from the ICE prison or not.

Petrova was on vacation in France. While there, she stopped at a lab that specialized in splicing ultrathin sections of frog embryos and got some samples to use in her study.

She was asked about the samples as she went through a US Customs and Border Protection station at Boston Logan International Airport. In an interview with The Associated Press last month, Petrova said she didn’t know the items had to be reported and wasn’t trying to sneak anything in. It was decided that Petrova’s ticket would not be valid after she was questioned.

In a video call with the AP, Petrova said, “The truth is on my side.” She was in the Monroe, Louisiana, prison for ICE.

The DHS said on the social network X that Petrova was arrested after “lying to federal officers about carrying substances into the country.” They say that messages on her phone “revealed she planned to smuggle the materials through customs without declaring them.”

Officials from the federal government said that Petrova was stopped by Customs and Border Protection officers after a police dog told them about her checked duffle bag. The frog eggs were found in a foam box when the box was opened. prosecutors said she first denied having any biological material in her checked luggage, but later she admitted it.

Leon Peshkin, Petrova’s boss and guide, said last month in an interview that the samples were not at all harmful or biohazardous.

Peshkin told the AP, “I don’t think she did anything wrong.” “But even if she did, she should have gotten a warning or maybe a $500 fine at most.”

In a statement, Harvard said that the school “continues to monitor the situation.”

Petrova told the AP that she left her home country to stay away from trouble or possible political violence. She left when Russia attacked Ukraine in February 2022, which began a three-year war that killed a lot of people.

Petrova said, “If I go back, I’m afraid I will be jailed because of my political views and the fact that I am against war.”

Scientists are paying close attention to Petrova’s case because some are worried that it could make it harder for U.S. colleges to hire and keep foreign scientists.

“I believe there is a false idea that foreign scientists are somehow lucky to be in the United States.” That’s not what I think,” Peshkin said. “Outside scientists bring gifts with them; they are very skilled professionals in high demand.” They make the American scientific society stronger.