I never heard of this guy until talk radio in NY mentioned him today

LINK

WTF?

Barnes, a 68-year-old father of two boys, is serving the longest prison sentence of any American who is currently being held in Russia. He was recently relocated to a penal colony hundreds of miles from Moscow. Tuesday marks four years since Barnes was taken into custody.

His family says Barnes' arrest came after he traveled from his apartment in The Woodlands, Texas, to Russia at the end of 2021 to try to gain visitation or custody rights to his sons through Moscow's family court system.

Barnes' ex-wife, Svetlana Koptyaeva, had taken their children to her native Russia following bitter divorce and child custody proceedings in Montgomery County, Texas. Upon learning of Barnes' arrival in Russia, his family says she contacted law enforcement in Moscow and accused him of having abused the two boys. "[She] did not want him to have access to his children, so she made the worst possible accusation that she could come up with," Margaret Aaron, Barnes' sister, told ABC News.

Moscow prosecutors' case against Barnes was unlike any other involving an American jailed in Russia in recent memory, since Barnes was not accused of committing a crime on Russian soil. Instead, Moscow prosecutors alleged that he abused his sons in suburban Houston, even though Texas law enforcement says they had no involvement in the Russian trial and previously found those allegations to not be credible after conducting their own investigation in response to Koptyaeva's claims.

"I stand firmly by the allegations against Mr. Barnes," Koptyaeva wrote to ABC News in an email Monday. "They are supported by my sons' testimonies and evidence presented in both U.S. and Russian courts." Barnes was convicted by a judge in Moscow in 2024 and sentenced to more than 21 years in prison.

"Was it a fair trial? By no means," Carter said.

After spending years in a detention center in the Russian capital, Barnes was recently transferred to the IK-17 penal colony, according to a spokesperson for his family. The facility previously housed other high-profile detainees like American Paul Whelan, who was freed from Russia in 2024 as part of a prisoner swap.