The defense team of Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko who is serving a 20-year sentence in the United States filed a request with the US Department of State concerning his case in the run-up to the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump that took place in July, Yaroshenko’s Defense Attorney Alexei Tarasov told TASS.

"Shortly before the Helsinki summit, as a defense attorney, I filed a request with the US secretary of state regarding the Yaroshenko case," he said. According to the attorney," the letter was sent to the US Department of State in Washington, DC."

"We asked the American side, in view of the circumstances of the Yaroshenko case, which we mentioned specifically, to thoroughly consider any Russian proposals concerning this case," he stressed, adding that no formal reply has been received.

According to Tarasov, Yaroshenko’s defense team would welcome a new inquiry from Moscow concerning his repatriation to Russia on the basis of the Council of Europe’s Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons. The attorney noted that such requests can be filed every other year. It April 2017 the news came that the US had rejected this request.

Tarasov noted that the United States would apparently be ready to consider a new inquiry in April 2019. "We welcome that," he said.

Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova earlier said she would seek a pardon for Yaroshenko ahead of the two presidents’ meeting. She noted that it could contribute to improving relations between Russia and the United States. Prior to that, Yaroshenko wrote a letter to Moskalkova, complaining of torture, poor prison conditions and the lack of medical assistance. However, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Izvestia daily that the issue had not been raised during the Russian-US summit.