Russia has sentenced an American to five years in prison for illegally transporting weapons, a court said Monday after a rifle was found on his yacht after it docked in the port of Sochi last June. Russian media said he smuggled weapons on his private yacht between July 2024 and June 2025.
Dozens of Westerners, including Americans, have been jailed in Russia, mostly since its inception war in Ukraine In 2022, many of them were later exchanged for prisoners.
“A US citizen has been found guilty of illegally carrying and moving firearms,” the district court’s press service said in a statement.
He identified himself as Charles Wayne Zimmerman and said he had “completely admitted his guilt” and was sentenced to “five years in prison.”
He did not say when the man was convicted, but said an appeal against the conviction had been rejected.
His arrest and conviction were the first to be mentioned in the Russian media, which closely cover the legal proceedings of foreign nationals.
According to the judge, the man crossed the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
He said he met a Russian woman online and decided to visit her and didn’t know he was prohibited from keeping a gun on his yacht while docked in Russia.
In September 2024, the US East Coast Guard a missing person alert for a man identified as Charles Zimmerman57, who set out from Fort Macon, North Carolina, on a sailing trip to New Zealand.
“Zimmerman was last heard from on July 23rd (2024). He informed a family member that he was leaving on his yacht en route to the Mediterranean Sea,” the Coast Guard said on Facebook.
He added that Trude was sailing a 35-foot green and white vessel called Zena.
In announcing Zimmerman’s sentence, the Russian court posted a slideshow on social media, including a video of a white yacht and photos of a sniper rifle and ammunition allegedly found on the boat, and photos of a man sitting on board.
Washington accuses Moscow of imprisoning US citizens in exchange for Russian spies abroad.