A day after one of the most high-profile prisoner exchanges between Washington and Moscow in years, Russian authorities have deported U.S. citizen Sarah Krivanek, who spent almost one year in detention on charges of assaulting her Russian partner.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters on December 9 that while he was aware of Krivanek's departure, he did not have any details on her deportation.
"I do not know how physically [the deportation was conducted], but I understand that it is a fact that her deportation was carried out," Ryabkov said, declining to answer a journalist's question on whether Krivanek left Russia along with American basketball star Brittney Griner, who was exchanged for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout the day before.
A court in the city of Ryazan, some 200 kilometers southeast of Moscow, ruled in November that Krivanek must be deported.
Krivanek, who is from Fresno, California, was sentenced last year to 15 months in prison after she hit her partner, a Russian man, with a knife. The American insists she was defending herself in a domestic violence situation. The man sustained minor injuries.
Krivanek complained that her stay in prison was harsh, leaving her at times "fearing for my life" because of bullying from inmates and mistreatment from prison guards.
Russia has sentenced several U.S. citizens to prison terms in recent years.
Griner, who returned to the United States earlier on December 9, spent nearly 10 months in detention in Russia for carrying vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage.
In October, a court in Russia's western city of Voronezh sentenced a former U.S. Marine Robert Gilman to 4 1/2 years in prison for attacking a police officer while drunk.
Paul Whelan, another former U.S. Marine, is serving 16 years in prison on espionage charges, which he denies.
In April, Russia and the United States swapped Trevor Reed for a Russian pilot convicted of drug smuggling. Reed, also a former U.S. Marine, was sentenced to nine years in prison after allegedly attacking police officers while drunk.