- A video from a Russian news agency shows 33-year-old Ksenia Karelina being led into a courtroom in handcuffs with her face blurred
Vladimir Putin’s secret security force, the FSB, has arrested a dual Russian-American ballerina on charges of treason, officials said Tuesday.
Video from a Russian news agency shows 33-year-old Ksenia Karelina being led into a courtroom in handcuffs, her face blurred. She was arrested the same day Putin sat down for a widely publicized interview with Tucker Carlson.
According to the agency, Karelina is a resident of Los Angeles. She is accused of raising money for a Ukrainian cause. She is specifically accused of transferring $51.80 from a US bank account to the Ukrainian charity Razom.
Karolina was taken into custody in the city of Yekaterinburg, more than 800 miles east of Moscow. It’s the same city where Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich was arrested on espionage charges nearly 12 months ago.
On her Facebook page, Karelina says that she is from the city and that she studied ballet at the SP Diaghilev school.
Karolina is accused of “proactively raising funds in the interest of a Ukrainian organization since February 2022, which was then used to purchase tactical medicines, equipment, weapons and ammunition for the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the FSB alleges.
“In addition, during his stay in the United States, the citizen in question repeatedly participated in public actions in support of the Kiev regime,” the agency said. The Moscow Times.
A statement from Russian officials refers to Karelina as a resident of Los Angeles
Karelina is accused of fundraising for a pro-Ukrainian organization. She obtained US citizenship in 2021
Russian-language outlet Mediazona reports that Karelina has been a US citizen since 2021 and that she married an American man in 2023.
Karelina graduated from the Ural Federal University in 2013.
Treason charges carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
On the same day that Karelina’s arrest was announced, Gershkovich appeared in court in Moscow, where his pre-trial detention was extended.
Mediazona reports that Karelina was first arrested on charges of ‘petty hooliganism’, for swearing. While in custody, these charges were upgraded to ‘high treason’.
The outlet further reports that Karelina stopped posting on Russian social media site VK in 2021 after discussing obtaining U.S. citizenship on the platform.
Razom, the Ukrainian charity she is said to be supporting, describes itself as “contributing to the creation of a secure, prosperous and democratic Ukraine.”
On her LinkedIn page, Karelina says she works as a manager at Ciel Spa Beverly Hills, a role she has held since 2019.
Karelina is the latest American behind bars in Russia, joining Gershkovich, former US Marine Paul Whelan and Texan father David Barnes, 65, who was sentenced last week in Moscow to 21 years in prison on child abuse charges.
Earlier this month, Putin told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in an interview that he was open to the idea of releasing Americans held in Russian prisons, but he did not discuss details.
On her LinkedIn page, Karelina says she works as a manager at Ciel Spa Beverly Hills, a role she has held since 2019.
Mediazona reports that Karelina was first arrested on charges of ‘petty hooliganism’, for swearing. While in custody, these charges were upgraded to ‘high treason’
