An American citizen was fined by a Novosibirsk court for illegally entering Russia.
Julio Prieto was fined 7000 rubles ($112) for the crime of illegally crossing the Russian border from Kazakhstan. The court declined to incarcerate Prieto as he had already served more than one month in jail at the time of his sentence.
Prieto's lawyer said that his client, a resident of Colorado, wanted to move to Russia and work in a village.
According to the prosecutor, Prieto arrived at the Russian border in an automobile on Sep. 14, where he was denied entry because he did not have a visa. He was caught by border guards when he attempted to go around a border checkpoint.
