NEW DRUG CHARGE FOR U.S. STUDENT CLEARED OF SPYING

MOSCOW: Having cleared an American student, John Tobin, of any espionage
charges, the Russian police indicated Monday they would charge him with a
more serious violation of Russia's drug laws after marijuana was allegedly
found in his possession.

It was not clear whether the case of Mr. Tobin, 24, was taking a more
serious turn following the decision last week by the Bush administration to
expel 50 Russian diplomats from the United States for alleged espionage
activity.

But given Mr. Tobin's reserve status in a U.S. Army intelligence unit, it
seemed likely Monday that his case might be complicated by the larger
espionage dispute between Russia and the United States as Moscow prepared
to retaliate with its own expulsions.

The Russian authorities made no formal comment Monday on how many American
diplomats they intended to send home in response to Washington's actions.

In a diplomatic note Friday, the Foreign Ministry said it was expelling
four Americans, though it did not initially provide the names of those to
be expelled to the U.S. Embassy here.

A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said that further information about
the expulsions would be delivered through diplomatic channels.

In the police case against Mr. Tobin, a senior investigator in the Russian
prosecutor's office, Andrei Makarov, told the Reuters news agency that Mr.
Tobin, already charged with simple possession of marijuana, would face
charges of being part of a drug ring.