Alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout asked the Russian Consulate in New York to help improve his incarceration conditions, his wife Alla Bout said, RIA Novosti reported.
Bout, 44, is being held in a high security bloc of a New York prison while he awaits trial on charges including conspiring to supply arms to a Colombian terrorist group and kill U.S. nationals. He denies all the charges against him.
Alla Bout says her husband's main complaint is that he is getting poor food that does not comply with prescribed medicine that he has been taking for the last two months. Bout, a vegetarian, has been diagnosed of having Koch's bacillus.
"Viktor does not get any vitamins or fruits, even those that are included in his menu. It is also prohibited to send him parcels," she said after meeting him in prison.
Former Soviet military officer Bout was arrested in Thailand in March 2008 during a sting operation led by U.S. agents. He was extradited to the United States in November last year after spending more than two and half years behind bars.
The alleged arms dealer, dubbed "The Merchant of Death," could face anything from 25 years to life in prison if found guilty.