“This happens a lot here to Russian citizens, and no one is watching,” he says. “But if the world is watching they’ll often back down.”

The campaign has included a strongly-worded letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, signed by six congressional representatives.

One of them is Okhotin’s old acquaintance, Pitts, who has spearheaded the campaign on his behalf in Congress.

Derek E. Karchner, a spokesperson for Pitts, says such letters can have enormous impact on situations like Okhotin’s.

“They act as a means to open up lines of communication between the two parties,” he writes in an e-mail. “And they demand a response. It’s easy to forget to return a voicemail, or ignore an email. But the paper trail is difficult to cover-up with letters like this.”

Karchner says Pitts expects the letter to be effective in Okhotin’s cause, but says it has not produced visible results from the Russian authorities as of yet.

“We’re kind of frustrated at the lack of cooperation we’ve gotten,” he says.

The letter-writing campaign has also extended to Cambridge’s ivied halls—though not without some confusion.

Several professors from HDS and the Law School have written letters on his behalf, Okhotin says, including Smith Professor of Law Henry J. Steiner. On July 4, Sonnenberg sent out a form letter regarding Okhotin’s detainment which he says he hopes many members of Harvard’s faculty will sign and send to top American and Russian officials.

But HDS spokesperson Wendy McDowell says caution bred by the murky circumstances kept HDS officials from sending letters earlier in the year.

“It isn’t always so easy to decide what to do in terms of what might be best for Andrew,” she says.

And, she says, the matter has been complicated because Okhotin’s trip was not sponsored by HDS and because his term of leave meant he was not officially a Harvard student at the time of his arrest.

But McDowell says high-ranking HDS officials are now actively involved in the campaign.

Yesterday HDS Dean William A. Graham and HDS Assistant Dean for Student Life Belva B. Jordan sent two letters to officials including President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell, the American ambassador to Russia and National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice.

The letters will also be sent to Russian President Vladimir Putin, says McDowell.