Harvard’s Russian Researcher Faces Smuggling Charges Amid Immigration Controversy

A 31-year-old Russian researcher at Harvard Medical School, Kseniia Petrova, faces smuggling charges after TSA officers at Boston’s Logan Airport discovered clawed frog embryos and embryonic samples in her luggage on February 16, 2025. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Massachusetts alleges Petrova knowingly bypassed required permits, citing text messages where she jokingly remarked, "I won’t be able to swallow them," when asked about sneaking the materials into the U.S.

Petrova’s attorney, Gregory Romanovsky, counters that the samples, used in cancer and aging research, didn’t require permits under U.S. Customs law. He accuses the government of targeting Petrova, a vocal critic of Russia’s war in Ukraine, to justify revoking her visa and detaining her. Romanovsky claims the timing of the criminal charge—filed shortly after a Vermont judge scheduled a bail hearing—smells of political maneuvering.

In a poignant New York Times op-ed, Petrova described her detention by ICE after returning from a Paris vacation, expressing fears of arrest in Russia if deported. She admitted to not declaring the embryos, expecting a fine at most, not handcuffs. Her absence has stalled Harvard’s lab, home to the world’s only Normalized Raman Imaging microscope, as colleagues—many foreign scientists—fear similar visa troubles.

A federal judge recently challenged the government’s rationale for Petrova’s detention, setting a bail hearing for later this month. Romanovsky insists the smuggling charge is a desperate attempt to paint Petrova as a criminal. This case raises thorny questions about scientific freedom, immigration policy, and whether geopolitical tensions are spilling into U.S. courtrooms.