Mother visits Russia spy case student

Tobin has denied the drugs charges

VORONEZH, Russia -- The mother of an American student jailed on drugs charge, but accused of being a spy, has visited her son in a Russian prison.

Alyce Van Etten flew to the central Russian town of Voronezh to meet her son, John Tobin, 24, sentenced last month to 37 months in jail for possession and distribution of a small amount of marijuana.

The case gained widespread attention when Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) repeatedly accused him of being a trainee spy, although espionage charges were never pressed.

Van Etten, making her first visit, said Tobin was doing well despite having contracted Lyme disease in prison and being held in poor conditions.

"Jack is fine. He's in good spirits, he's in really good spirits. It was great to see him," she said after the two-hour visit.

"He feels good. He looks pale, he's thin, he doesn't get to see the light of day very much, but he's in good spirits and it was very comforting for both of us."

Van Etten and her husband, Jan, had yellow ribbons pinned to their lapels, to signify their hope that the son they call Jack would soon return home.

The Van Ettens arrive to visit Tobin

"The conditions he's in are not very good, but he's handling it very well," she said.

Tobin, from Ridgefield, Connecticut, was doing political research at Voronezh State University as a Fulbright Scholar at the time of his arrest.

The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, cited his attendance at a U.S. Defense Language Institute in California, and a military intelligence training centre in Arizona when accusing him of training to be a spy.

Earlier this week, Connecticut congressman James Maloney released an e-mail Tobin had sent to the Moscow-based head of the Fulbright programme, saying the drugs had been planted on him and the FSB tried to recruit him as a spy.

In the message, quoted in U.S. newspapers, Tobin wrote that drugs charges were pressed against him when he refused to co-operate with the FSB, successor to the Soviet-era KGB.

After the visit, the Van Ettens returned to Moscow, where they were to meet with U.S. Embassy officials.