UPDATE
Aug 15, 2024 7:00 AM CDT
Another US citizen has received a long sentence from a Russian court. Dual US-Russian citizen Ksenia Karelina was sentenced to 12 years on Tuesday on a treason charge connected to a donation of around $52 she made to a US charity providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine in 2022. Russian prosecutors said the funds were used to buy supplies, including weapons, for Ukraine's military. The 33-year-old was arrested after she went to Russia to visit her family in January. Her lawyer, Mikhail Mushailov, says he plans to "take all legally significant actions" to ensure that Karelina will be included in a future prisoner exchange, CBS News reports.
Aug 8, 2024 8:57 AM CDT
An American citizen not included in last week's prisoner swap is facing a sentence of up to 15 years in prison over a $51.80 donation she made to a pro-Ukraine charity more than two years ago. Ksenia Karelina, an amateur ballerina who worked in a Beverly Hills spa, was arrested in January after she traveled to Russia to visit family. She was charged with treason after authorities searched her phone and found evidence of the donation. Her lawyer, Mikhail Mushailov, said Thursday that she had pleaded guilty in the hope of getting a lower sentence, and because "it was stupid in this situation to deny the obvious," Al Jazeera reports.
Russian prosecutors are seeking a sentence of 15 years in a penal colony, which Mushailov says is too severe because she has cooperated with the investigation, reports the BBC. Mushailov says it would have been "impossible" to include Karelina, who moved to the US in 2012 and became a citizen in 2021, in the prison swap because no verdict had been issued. After long periods in custody, American journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva were convicted and sentenced less than two weeks before the exchange. A final verdict in Karelina's case is expected next week.
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The charity Karelina allegedly donated to, Razom, said it was "appalled" by her arrest. It supports humanitarian projects, including aid to frontline medics, reports Reuters. Russia claimed the funds bought tactical supplies for the Ukrainian military. After the arrest, her boyfriend, boxer Chris Van Heerden, said she was "not an activist" and never talked about politics. Van Heerden, who has been campaigning for Karelina's release, told the Los Angeles Times earlier this year that he was worried about her going to Russia to visit her family, but he bought her a plane ticket for her birthday after she reassured him that "everything would be fine." But when she arrived in the country, he said, authorities questioned her for hours and confiscated her phone. (More Russia stories.)
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