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Russian man sentenced to 4 years in UK prison for assault witnessed on video by Barron Trump

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Russian man sentenced to 4 years in UK prison for assault witnessed on video by Barron Trump
News

News

Russian man sentenced to 4 years in UK prison for assault witnessed on video by Barron Trump

2026-03-27 22:37 Last Updated At:22:40

LONDON (AP) — A Russian man was sentenced to four years in prison Friday for assaulting a woman in London in an attack that was witnessed on a video call and reported to police by U.S. President Donald Trump’s youngest son, Barron.

Matvei Rumiantsev, 23, was convicted by a jury on Jan. 28 of assault with bodily harm but was acquitted of rape and choking charges. He was also convicted of perverting the course of justice because he sent the woman a letter from jail asking her to retract her allegations.

In his sentencing remarks at Snaresbrook Crown Court in east London, Justice Joel Bennathan said Rumiantsev was “totally unrepentant” and a “man given to jealousy.”

“Your lack of insight and empathy was apparent at trial,” the judge said. “You continue to try to blame the complainant for everything that has happened.”

In the attack on Jan. 18, 2025, Rumiantsev drunkenly beat up the victim, who is entitled to anonymity under U.K. law, when he became jealous of her friendship with Barron Trump. She had met the president's son, who lives in the U.S., through social media.

During the assault, Rumiantsev answered a FaceTime call from Barron Trump on the woman's phone and turned the camera to show her crying on the floor.

The president's son then called police in the British capital and pleaded for help for the woman, telling the operator during a sometimes strained conversation: “It’s really an emergency … I’m calling from the U.S., uh, I just got a call from a girl, you know, she’s getting beat up.”

Police then went to the address and arrested Rumiantsev, a receptionist who lived in London.

Rumiantsev testified that he was jealous of Trump but that he also felt badly for him because he thought that his girlfriend was leading him on.

During the trial, defense lawyer Sasha Wass said that Trump didn't know the woman had a boyfriend and questioned how much he could have seen in 5 or 7 seconds of video. She said the woman had exploited her ties to Trump to make her boyfriend envious in a “relationship full of dramas.”

Trump, now 19, the only child of Donald and Melania Trump, didn't testify in the case.

The judge praised Trump for contacting police and for helping prevent something worse. He said the victim feared she was about to be killed.

“Mr, Trump properly and responsibly, despite being in the United States, made sure the emergency services here were called, and he told them what he had seen,” he said.

FILE - Barron Trump watches as his father, President Donald Trump attends an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event at Capital One Arena, in Washington, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

FILE - Barron Trump watches as his father, President Donald Trump attends an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event at Capital One Arena, in Washington, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are falling Friday as Wall Street stumbles toward the finish of a fifth straight losing week, which would be its longest such streak in nearly four years.

The S&P 500 sank 0.9% and deepened its losses a day after its worst drop since the war with Iran began. It's all the way back to where it was in August and is 8% below its all-time high set early this year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 423 points, or 0.9%, as of 10:05 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.3% lower.

The losses are a break from Wall Street’s pattern this week, where the U.S. stock market flip-flopped from gains to losses each day as hopes rose and fell about a possible end to the war.

Moments after the U.S. stock market finished its dismal Thursday of trading, President Donald Trump offered another potential signal for hope. He extended a self-imposed deadline to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants to April 6 if it doesn’t allow oil tankers to resume their exits from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean through the Strait of Hormuz.

Oil prices eased immediately after Trump’s announcement in a sign of hope in financial markets that some normalcy may return to the strait. But oil prices resumed their climb as the sun moved westward from Asia to Europe and back to Wall Street.

Despite Trump’s second announcement of a delay this week, fighting continued in the Middle East. Iran gave no signs of backing down, while Israel threatened to “escalate and expand” its attacks on Iran.

“The diplomatic dissonance this week between the U.S. and Iran dismayed investors,” said Doug Beath, global equity strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. “By the end of the week, risk appetite could not withstand the fog of war.”

“Any further statements by Trump about a deal are white noise to the markets,” Jim Bianco, president and macro strategist at Bianco Research, wrote in a social media post. “Only if the IRANIANS say the talks are going well will it impact markets.”

The price for a barrel of Brent crude rose 2.2% to $104.13 and is up from roughly $70 before the war began. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 3% to $97.28 per barrel.

The fear in financial markets is that the war will disrupt the production and transport of oil and natural gas in the Persian Gulf for a long time. It could keep so much oil and gas out of the world’s markets that it sends a punishing wave of inflation through the global economy. Not only would it raise prices for drivers buying gasoline, it could push businesses that use any trucks, ships or planes to move their products to raise their own prices.

If the war continues until the end of June, strategists at Macquarie say the price of oil could reach $200 per barrel. So far, the highest oil prices have ever been gotten has been just above $147 during the summer of 2008. That’s when Iran’s testing of missiles, including one that could reach Israel, and strong demand for oil from China helped send prices spiking despite the Great Recession.

High gasoline prices and the war are already hitting confidence among U.S. consumers, whose spending makes up the bulk of the economy. Sentiment among them fell slightly more in March from February than economists expected, according to a survey by the University of Michigan.

U.S. consumers also said in the survey that worried about inflation jumping in the near future. They're bracing for inflation of 3.8% in the coming 12 months, up from 3.4% in February. That's the largest one-month increase in nearly a year.

Expectations of higher inflation can kick off a vicious cycle of behavior that only worsens inflation. Such worries have virtually eliminated hopes among traders that the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates this year to boost the economy. While lower rates would help give the job market and prices for investments an upward jolt, they would also risk making inflation worse.

Long-term Treasury yields rose even further in the bond market following Friday’s rise for oil prices. The yield for the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.44% from 4.42% late Thursday and from just 3.97% before the war began.

That rise has already sent rates jumping for mortgages and for other loans taken by U.S. households and businesses, slowing the economy.

On Wall Street, most stocks fell, including two out of ever three in the S&P 500.

Among the few stocks to rise was Netflix, which added 0.3% a day after announcing price hikes for its services.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell in Europe following a mixed finish in Asia.

AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed.

Federico DeMarco works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Federico DeMarco works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Federico DeMarco, right, and Dilip Patel work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Federico DeMarco, right, and Dilip Patel work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

FILE - Liberia-flagged tanker Shenlong Suezmax, carrying crude oil from Saudi Arabia, that arrived clearing the Strait of Hormuz, is seen at the Mumbai Port in Mumbai, India, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)

FILE - Liberia-flagged tanker Shenlong Suezmax, carrying crude oil from Saudi Arabia, that arrived clearing the Strait of Hormuz, is seen at the Mumbai Port in Mumbai, India, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)

James Denaro, center, and Dilip Patel, left, work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

James Denaro, center, and Dilip Patel, left, work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

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