Russia arrests American citizen and accuses her of treason by helping Ukraine

Russia's top security service said on Tuesday it had arrested a dual citizen of Russia and the United States on charges of committing state treason by raising money for Ukraine.

The Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, identified the detainee as a 33-year-old woman living in Los Angeles. It said inside a statement that she had raised money for a Ukrainian organization that purchased weapons and other equipment for the Ukrainian army.

Perviy Otdel, a group of Russian lawyers who specialize in cases involving treason and other politically charged accusations, said the woman was charged with treason for sending just over $50 to Razom for Ukraine, a New York-based company. York-based nonprofit organization that sends aid to the country.

The Russian news channel Media Zona identified her as Ksenia Karelina. Perviy Otdel identified her as Ksenia (Karelina) Khavana, with Karelina probably being her maiden name.

The FSB said the woman was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg in central Russia. RIA Novosti, a Russian state news agency, published this a video that said the woman, who wore a white hat covering her eyes, was handcuffed and escorted by masked security service officers.

If found guilty, she could face 20 years in prison.

The detention of U.S. citizens on Russian soil in recent years has raised suspicions that the Kremlin views them as valuable assets that could be traded against high-profile Russians held in custody in the United States and other Western countries.

On the same day the woman's arrest was announced, a Moscow court rejected an appeal by Evan Gershkovich, an American reporter for The Wall Street Journal, whom Russia arrested last spring on espionage charges, to have his pre-trial detention lifted. It ruled that Mr Gershkovich – who, along with his employer and the US government, has denied the charges against him – must remain in prison until at least the end of March.

The number of cases of state treason in Russia has grown steadily since the large-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. About 50 people were charged with the crime last year. according to Perviy Otdelranging from high-profile critics of the Kremlin to a student accused of photographing Russian army formations in his city.

A court in Yekaterinburg was expected to hear an appeal from the newly arrested woman on Tuesday. according to the court's websitewhich also stated that she was accused of treason.

According to Ms. Karelina's profile on VK, a Russian social network, she received American citizenship in 2021. Hair profilewho also identified her as a student at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, said she graduated from Urals Federal University in Yekaterinburg in 2014.

Perviy Otdel said the woman was arrested in late January and charged with treason on February 7.