A Los Angeles ballerina with dual Russian-American citizenship has been sentenced to 12 years in Russian prison over a donation she made in support of Ukraine.
Ksenia Karelina, a Russian native who has been a U.S. citizen since 2021, was visiting family in Yekaterinburg when she was arrested and accused of treason.
On Feb. 24, 2022 — the first day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — Karelina “transferred funds in the interests of a Ukrainian organization, which were subsequently used for the purchase of tactical medicine items, equipment, means of defeat and ammunition by the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Russian investigators said.
According to a social media post, 33-year-old Karelina paid $51.80 to the New York-based humanitarian group Razom for Ukraine, a nonprofit dedicated to providing humanitarian aid to children and elderly people in Ukraine. The charity has denied it provides any military support to Kyiv.
Russia’s Federal Security Service, the nation’s top domestic security agency and replacement for the Soviet-era KGB, reportedly uncovered the transaction while searching her phone. She was initially detained for “petty hooliganism,” but the charge was later upgraded to treason.
Karelina, who is also a spa worker in Los Angeles, last week pleaded guilty during her closed trial, which was handled by the same judge who sentenced Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in prison for espionage.
Gershkovich was freed earlier this month during the largest prisoner swap carried out between the United States and Russia since the Cold War. Two dozen people, including former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, were released as part of the deal, which involved seven nations.
Prosecutors had requested Karelina be sentenced to 15 years behind bars, a punishment her attorney, Mikhail Mushailov, blasted as “harsh.” He vowed to appeal and said he would “take all legally significant actions” to ensure Karelina be included in a future prisoner exchange.
“She admitted guilt in terms of transferring funds, but did not admit her intent aimed at transferring funds to those organizations where they most likely arrived,” Mushailov said. “She did not assume that the funds she transferred would be used for anti-Russian actions.”
Karelina was born in Russia and emigrated to the United States in 2012.
With News Wire Services
