The Trump administration has moved to drop charges against a Harvard University researcher accused of illegally smuggling frog embryos into the United States, The Hill reported. The researcher, Kseniia Petrova, is a Russian-born scientist who was detained and threatened with deportation, according to the same report.
The New York Times reported that prosecutors are seeking to drop charges against Petrova, whom the Times describes as a researcher at Harvard. The Times said Petrova has argued that she was "vindictively prosecuted" after her arrest in 2025.
According to The Hill, Petrova was detained and threatened with deportation after she did not declare the items when going through customs at the airport. The report said her lawyers argued that the infraction would normally be treated in a particular way, but the summary of that report ends before the argument is complete, so its full wording is not available for this account.
The two outlets describe the same development from different starting points. The Times framed the matter as a request from prosecutors and centered on Petrova's claim of vindictive prosecution. The Hill attributed the move to the Trump administration and centered on the customs encounter and the threat of deportation. Neither summary says whether a court has ruled on the request to drop the charges.
Carolyn Y. Johnson wrote the Times report, and Lexi Lonas Cochran wrote The Hill's report. Readers seeking the full accounts of the prosecutors' request, the alleged customs violation and the lawyers' arguments should consult the complete articles from each outlet.
Sources: The New York Times: Prosecutors Seek to Drop Charges Against Russian Scientist Accused of Smuggling Frog Embryos; The Hill: Prosecutors move to drop charges against scientist accused of smuggling frog embryos.