Russian diplomats plan to visit pilot Yaroshenko in prison next week
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Russian diplomats hope to visit Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko at a prison in Danbury, Connecticut, next week, a spokesperson for the Russian Consulate General in New York told TASS on Wednesday.

The spokesperson said that "the visit should be coordinated with the prison administration" adding that diplomats will raise the issue of providing medical assistance to Yaroshenko during their visit. "The visit will probably take place next week," he added.

Earlier on Wednesday the Russian Consulate General wrote on its official Facebook account that they are "investigating media reports about the refusal of the prison administration to provide medical assistance" to the Russian national.

Konstantin Yaroshenko was convicted in the United States on September 7, 2011 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He pled not guilty and described his arrest as a provocation and the whole case as a frame-up. Yaroshenko was brought to the United States from Liberia, where he was arrested on May 28, 2010. Agents of the US Drug Enforcement Administration allegedly exposed Yaroshenko’s criminal intent to transport a large batch of cocaine.

The Russian authorities and the pilot’s family in Rostov-on-Don have repeatedly asked the United States for Yaroshenko’s handover to Russia.