Topline
A Russian court sentenced Russian-American Ksenia Karelina to 12 years in prison on Thursday, after Russian officials claimed she committed treason by fundraising for Ukraine’s military because of an alleged $51.80 donation to a pro-Ukraine charity.
The woman, a Los Angeles resident, was accused of donating just over $50 to a Ukrainian charity.
Key Facts
Karelina, 33, was sentenced to 12 years in prison following a closed-door trial in Yekaterinburg, Russia, after earlier pleading guilty to treason charges, according to the Russian state-run outlet Tass.
Karelina was accused of committing treason against Russia by donating $51.80 to the New York-based charity Razom for Ukraine, according to the Beverly Hills, California spa she previously worked for.
Karelina, who was born in Russia and became a U.S. citizen in 2021, was arrested at a Russian airport in February while on her way to visit her 90-year-old grandmother, her boyfriend Chris Van Heerden told NBC, after the couple vacationed in Instabul for four days.
Van Heerden—who returned to California—said he purchased Karelina’s plane tickets to Russia as a gift because she was feeling homesick.
Russia’s Federal Security Service announced the arrest of an unnamed Los Angeles resident at the time, alleging a person with dual citizenship in Russia and the U.S. was “proactively collecting funds in the interests of a Ukrainian organization” since February 2022, according to the Russian state-run outlet Tass.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told ABC 7 the U.S. Embassy in Moscow was trying to contact Karelina in June, though he said Russia has not recognized any dual Russian-American’s U.S. citizenship and would likely not grant access.
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Mikhail Mushailov, Karelina’s lawyer, said he would appeal the verdict. Mushailov told Reuters last week Karelina hoped she would be included in a future prisoner swap with the U.S., saying “we will work in this direction” after the verdict.
Key Background
Karelina moved to the U.S. in 2015 to study at the University of Maryland in Baltimore before relocating to Los Angeles, the Associated Press reported. Karelina worked at Ciel Spa in Beverly Hills for eight years, though she had no relatives in the U.S. and had traveled to Russia at least once a year since leaving her home country. She reportedly planned to stay in Russia for two weeks while visiting her grandmother, parents and sister.
Tangent
Several American citizens have been detained in Russia in recent years. Staff Sgt. Gordon Black was sentenced to nearly four years in prison in June, after he was convicted of stealing from and threatening to kill his Russian girlfriend. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested last year on espionage charges, as Russian officials claim he gathered information about a Russian military facility for the CIA. WNBA star Brittney Griner spent 10 months in a Russian prison on drug possession charges before she was eventually freed in a prisoner swap. In 2018, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan was arrested on spying charges. Both Gershkovich and Whelan, whom the U.S. designated as wrongfully detained by Russia, were released by Russia in a 26-person prisoner swap earlier this month.
