US-Russian citizen Ksenia Karelina was sentenced to 12 years in prison by a Russian court on Thursday for “treason” after she allegedly donated a little more than $50 to a pro-Ukrainian charity.
Karelina, a 32-year-old ballet dancer and spa worker who lives and works in Los Angeles, was detained by police in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg in late January while she was visiting her family.
“The court found Ksenia Karelina guilty of high treason and sentenced her to 12 years’ imprisonment in a general regime colony,” the Sverdlovsk Regional Court in the Ural city of Yekaterinburg said.
A video released by the court showed Carolina standing in a glass defendant’s cage wearing a white top and jeans when the verdict was announced.
US media outlets, citing his family and employer, reported that he donated $51.80 to the New York-based charity “Razm for Ukraine” shortly after Russia launched its full-scale military invasion in February 2022.
Russia’s FSB security service accused him of collecting money that was “used to purchase tactical medical supplies, equipment, weapons and ammunition for the Ukrainian armed forces.”
According to state media, he pleaded guilty to the charges against him at a hearing last week.
Washington has accused Moscow of arresting its citizens on baseless charges in order to use them as bargaining chips to secure the release of Russians convicted abroad.
Karelina’s sentence comes two weeks after Russia released American journalist Ivan Gershkovitch, former US Marine Paul Whelan and 14 others in the biggest prisoner swap with the West since the Cold War.
On Wednesday, an American man accused of violence against a Russian law enforcement officer in Moscow was sentenced to 15 days in custody for “hooliganism.”
– ‘wrongly accused’ –
Karelina’s employer, Siel Spa at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, wrote on Facebook in February that she had been “falsely accused.”
Her partner has also publicly petitioned for her release.
According to a Russian rights group, Karelina was first detained on January 27 while visiting her family in the city of Yekaterinburg, nearly a month after she moved to Russia.
Russian regional news agency URA.RU reported that the charge was related to “swearing in a public place”, a charge he rejected in court, according to the Mediazona news outlet.
According to Russian media, FSB officers may have discovered that he made payments to a pro-Ukrainian charity from his phone, but it is unclear how he made the payments.
He was initially detained for 14 days on charges of “petty hooliganism”, but was never released, as authorities accused him of “treason” during his detention.
Russia often arrests foreigners on minor charges, then charges them with more serious crimes such as treason or espionage.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
