American who sailed yacht to Russia to meet woman he met online jailed for 5 years in Sochi
Small yacht (illustrative image), PHOTO: pixidyll.net / Alamy / Profimedia Images
A Russian court has sentenced an American citizen to five years in prison for crossing the border with a gun after he sailed from the United States to meet a Russian woman he met online, Moscow's judicial service said, citing Reuters.
The man, identified as Charles Wayne Zimmerman, pleaded guilty but told the court that the gun was stored on his yacht for self-defense and that he was unaware of Russian law.
Zimmerman left North Carolina for Portugal in July 2024, then crossed the Mediterranean and Black Seas, arriving in June 2025 in Sochi in southern Russia.
The American “did not bother to study the laws of the Russian Federation”, says Moscow
“Zimmerman told the judges that he met a woman from Kazan on the Internet and decided to sail his yacht to meet her,” the judicial service in Moscow added, referring to another city in southern Russia.
“On departure, he did not bother to study the laws of the Russian Federation and believed that the weapons stored on his yacht for self-defense should simply remain on board,” it added.
He was sentenced to 5 years in prison by a court in Sochi.
Russia's judicial service released video footage showing a Remington rifle and cartridges seized from the yacht, while Zimmerman was filmed sitting with a bottle of water next to him.
