Harvard Researcher Accused of Smuggling Frog Embryos Faces New Charges

Russian-born Kseniia Petrova is accused of smuggling frog embryos into the United States.

Kseniia Petrova, a Russian-born scientist who was a researcher at Harvard University, in April 2025. Polina Pugacheva via AP

A scientist and research associate at Harvard University accused of smuggling frog embryos into the United States was indicted Wednesday on additional charges, nearly two weeks after she was released from custody.

Russian-born Kseniia Petrova, 30, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston on one count of concealment of a material fact, one count of false statement, and one count of smuggling goods into the United States.

Petrova had been charged with one count of smuggling goods into the country in May. If convicted of that charge, she faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

She also faces a sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on the charges of concealment of material fact and false statements.

Petrova will remain on pretrial release despite the additional charges.

The Epoch Times contacted Petrova’s lawyer, Gregory Romanovsky, for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

Petrova was detained on Feb. 16 by Customs and Border Protection officers at Boston’s Logan International Airport after returning from a trip to Paris, France.

According to prosecutors, she was stopped after agents flagged her duffle bag for inspection. A search of the bag revealed biological items including clawed frog embryos and embryonic samples.

“All biological products require a permit for entry and require the individual to make a declaration to Customs & Border Protection at the port of first arrival,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said in a May 14 statement.

Prosecutors said Petrova initially denied carrying the material in her baggage but acknowledged she had biological specimens when asked again.

During an interview under oath, she claimed to be unsure that she was required to declare the materials when entering the country but text messages on her phone from one of her colleagues allegedly revealed she had been informed that she was required to declare them, prosecutors said.

Authorities advised Petrova that she was ineligible for entry into the country, at which point prosecutors said she agreed to willingly withdraw her application for admission.

Petrova filed a petition seeking her release and was temporarily transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Louisiana to await a judge’s decision on whether or not she would be deported to Russia. Petrova left Russia in 2022 after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

Petrova said she feared she would be imprisoned if she returned to Russia because of her political views. According to a letter signed by 17 senators calling for her release, she was arrested in Russia in 2022 for participating in anti-war protests and calling for Putin’s impeachment on social media.

In May, a federal judge in Vermont found that Petrova’s continued detention by immigration authorities was unjustified and that officials had detained her and canceled her visa without any factual or legal basis for doing so.

Romanovsky told The Epoch Times in May that customs experts had confirmed that Petrova did not need a permit to bring in her “non-living scientific samples that are not considered biological material under U.S. Customs law.”

Romanovsky said his client’s arrest was “an attempt by the government to justify its outrageous and legally indefensible position that this scientist working for the U.S. on cures for cancer and aging research has somehow become a danger to the community.”

Petrova told The Associated Press in an interview in April that she did not realize the items needed to be declared and was not trying to sneak anything into the country.

The new charges against Petrova were announced after she was granted bail on June 12.

The Epoch Times has contacted Harvard University for comment.