Family of Alabama man imprisoned in Russia wants action: ‘We have heard nothing’

The family of an Alabama man being held in Russia since his arrest in January 2022 says they have had little to no help from the U.S. government is getting him assistance.

Carol Barnes, the sister of David Barnes, told The Wall Street Journal that she and other members of her family have pressed for assistance.

“We have heard nothing at all from the State Department here in the U.S. even though we have been constantly trying to get someone to pay attention to David’s situation in Russia,” Carol Barnes said. “The administration has told us nothing.”

David Thomas Barnes, 65, a native of Gadsden and a former resident of Huntsville who moved to the Houston, Texas area, is currently being held inside Moscow Detention Center No. 5 after he was arrested.

Barnes, in writing to his family, says he shares a cell with up to a dozen other inmates being held for other offenses. He gets one shower a week, sleeps on a steel bunk, reads, writes and prays. He is 20 pounds lighter than when he entered the jail almost 22 months ago.

“Being trapped with 7-12 men for 24/7 is weird and difficult,” Barnes wrote in a letter.

According to the Journal, about two dozen Americans and dual U.S.-Russian citizens are currently being held in Russian jails and labor camps who have not earned the State Department’s wrongful-detainment designation, which gives priority in the government to gaining their release.

Barnes is reportedly accused of sexually abusing his two sons, ages 13 and 9, while living in the U.S. in Texas. The charges were brought by his ex-wife, Svetlana Koptyaeva, a Russian citizen. Because at least one of the children has Russian nationality, according to reports, Russian authorities claim jurisdiction in the case.

Barnes, who pleaded not guilty, faces up to 20 years in jail for the case.

The couple divorced in 2015, followed by a messy child custody case. Koptyaeva made allegations of sexual abuse against Barnes, which were investigated and found “not credible,” according to Kelly Blackburn, an assistant district attorney with the Montgomery County (Texas) D.A.’s office. No charges were ever filed against him in the U.S.

After Barnes was awarded custody of the children, Koptyaeva left the country that same week with the two sons, and David Barnes eventually tracked them to Russia. Koptyaeva was indicted in Montgomery County, Texas on Dec. 12, 2019, for felony interference with child custody. A warrant was issued for her arrest.

When he entered Russia in 2022 to make contact with his sons, Barnes was arrested by Russian police after a report by Koptyaeva.

“The U.S. is trying to make him an innocent victim of [a] bad Russian woman and [a] bad Russia in general,” Koptyaeva wrote in a message to The Wall Street Journal. “Russia has nothing to do with it.”