Everyone is making a big deal about this priest who is arrested in Russia. While it is unfortunate that he is being detained and while I would like to believe he intended no ill-will, he tried to enter Russia with a box of ammo. The priest, Philip Miles, says it was ammo for "his friend's new Winchester rifle." Miles has also been going to Russia for the past ten years for mission work. But, c'mon. If it was some Russian or some Middle Eastern who had the same story while trying to come into the U.S., you bet our authorities would have put that guy in jail. People need to quit acting shocked over the arrest and saying it's not fair. It makes sense. Hopefully, it will get cleared up. But again, c'mon people. Quit having a double-standard when it comes to national security!
A Moscow court on Monday convicted an American pastor of smuggling hunting ammunition into Russia and sentenced him to three years and two months in prison.
Phillip Miles, pastor of Christ Community Church in Conway, S.C., part of an evangelical fellowship, has been in custody since his arrest Feb. 3, several days after arriving in Moscow.
Miles has said he brought the .300-caliber cartridges for a friend who had recently bought a Winchester rifle -- a gun rarely found in Russia. He said he did not know bringing such ammunition into Russia was illegal.
"I'm very disappointed. It's a strange sentence for one box of hunting bullets," he said as bailiffs led him from the court in handcuffs. His lawyer, calling the sentence surprisingly severe, said he would appeal.
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