A Russian court on Thursday sentenced Ksenia Karelina, a dual Russian-American citizen, to 12 years in prison after convicting her of treason for donating money to a charity supporting Ukraine. Karelina, a spa worker residing in Los Angeles, pleaded guilty during her closed trial in Yekaterinburg, the same city where the court convicted Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich of espionage in July. The court stated that investigators discovered Karelina had transferred funds on February 24, 2022, the initial day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, to a Ukrainian organization, which then utilized the money to buy tactical medical items, equipment, and ammunition for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Karelina's supporters claim she donated $51.80 to Razom for Ukraine, a New York-based charity providing humanitarian aid to children and elderly people in Ukraine, which denies providing any military support to Kyiv. Appearing in court in a white sweatshirt and blue jeans, Karelina sat calmly in a glass courtroom cage. Although she was not part of the recent major prisoner swap between Russia and the West that freed Gershkovich, her lawyer, Mikhail Mushailov, expressed hope for her inclusion in a future exchange.
Born in Russia, Karelina emigrated to the United States in 2012 through a work-study program and obtained American citizenship in 2021. She was arrested by the FSB security service upon her arrival in Russia to visit her family in Yekaterinburg. Authorities interrogated her upon her arrival using her US passport and confiscated her cellphone, where they found the 2022 donation to Razom for Ukraine on her Venmo account, as reported by www.freeksenia.com. The FSB subjected her to weekly check-ins, during which she was interrogated for up to two hours and prohibited from leaving the city.
Three days before her scheduled return to Los Angeles, Karelina was arrested on hooliganism charges and jailed for 15 days. Shortly before her release, she faced a state treason charge. Acquittals for serious crimes are rare in Russia. Karelina's family and friends in the US describe her as apolitical and were shocked by her arrest. Her boyfriend, Christopher van Heerden, has been in contact with both the State Department and the US embassy in Moscow regarding her release. Unlike Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan, Karelina has not been designated by Washington as "wrongfully detained", which would facilitate diplomatic efforts for a prisoner exchange.
