MOSCOW – A court in the Russian capital rejected an American citizen’s appeal against his sentence on drug-related charges on Tuesday.

In July, the Ostankino District Court in Moscow convicted Robert Woodland, an American citizen of Russian origin, of attempted illegal drug trafficking and sentenced him to 12 1/2 years in prison. The Moscow court upheld the verdict on Tuesday, rejecting Woodland’s appeal.

Russian media reported that his name matched an American citizen interviewed in 2020 who said he was born in the Perm region of the Ural Mountains in 1991 and was adopted by an American couple at the age of 2. He said he traveled to Russia to find his mother and eventually met her on a TV show. Russian media say Woodland also holds Russian citizenship.

Arrests of Americans in Russia have become more frequent as relations between Moscow and Washington sink to Cold War lows amid the fighting in Ukraine. Washington accuses Moscow of targeting its citizens and using them as political bargaining chips, but Russian officials insist they all broke the law.

Some have been exchanged for Russians held in the US, while for others the prospects of being released in an exchange are less clear.