A U.S. citizen arrested in Moscow on drug charges appeared in court on Monday as tensions between Russia and the United States rise over Ukraine.

Robert Woodland Romanov faces charges of trafficking a large quantity of illegal drugs as part of an organized group, a criminal offense punishable by up to 20 years in prison. He was remanded in custody in January and his trial began at the end of March at the Ostankino District Court. A new court hearing is scheduled for next week.

In January, the U.S. State Department said it was aware of reports of the recent detention of a U.S. citizen and noted that “nothing is more important than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas,” but did not comment further due to privacy concerns. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow issued a similar statement at the time.

Russian media noted that the defendant’s name matched that of an American citizen interviewed by the popular daily komsomolskaya pravda 2020.

The man said in the interview that he was born in the Perm region of the Ural Mountains in 1991 and was adopted by an American couple when he was two years old. He said he traveled to Russia in search of his Russian mother and eventually met her on a TV show in Moscow.

The man told komsomolskaya pravda He loved living in Russia and decided to move there. The newspaper reported that he settled in the town of Dolgoprudny outside Moscow and worked as an English teacher at a local school.

Arrests of Americans in Russia have become increasingly common as relations between Moscow and Washington hit Cold War lows. Washington accuses Moscow of targeting its citizens and using them as political bargaining chips, but Russian officials insist they all violated the law.

Some have been exchanged for Russians held in U.S. custody, while others have less clear prospects of being released through exchanges.