American ballerina Ksenia Karelina is being held in Russia for 'high treason' by Putin's feared FSB security service, accused of raising $51 for the Ukrainian military and faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty
Vladimir Putin's secret Federal Security Service has arrested a dual Russian-American ballerina on charges of treason, officials confirmed Tuesday.
Videos from a Russian news agency show 32-year-old Ksenia Karelina being led into a courtroom in handcuffs and with her eyes blindfolded. It is not clear when the video was recorded.
Karelina is from Los Angeles and became an American citizen in 2021. Her social media pages are littered with photos of her smiling, loving life in the US. Last summer she married her husband, a previously unknown American.
She was arrested in January on the same day Putin sat down for his highly publicized interview with Tucker Carlson. The arrest took place outside a cinema in Yekaterinburg. The first charges related to swearing.
Ekaterinburg, the largest city in the Urals, is also where Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich was arrested nearly 12 months ago on espionage charges.
Karelina, who danced her on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, previously studied at the University of Maryland
Karelina moved to the US after graduating from college in her home country in 2013
A statement from Russian officials refers to Karelina as a resident of Los Angeles
Lawyers have said Karelina was originally arrested on charges of 'petty hooliganism' after being accused of swearing outside a cinema.
Karelina graduated from the Ural Federal University in 2013. Numerous posts on her Facebook page show her in Baltimore, Maryland, beginning in 2014
She is specifically accused of transferring $51.80 from a US bank account to the Ukrainian charity Razom
In a subsequent investigation, Karelina was accused of fundraising for a Ukrainian military cause. She is specifically accused of transferring $51.80 from a US bank account to the Ukrainian charity Razom.
Treason charges carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years. Since 2023, 63 people have been charged with treason in Russia, of which 37 have been found guilty.
On her Facebook page, Karelina says she is from Yekaterinburg and studied ballet at the SP Diaghilev School.
The dancer 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.
On her Facebook page, Karelina says she is from Yekaterinburg and that she studied ballet at the SP Diaghilev School
The Russian-language medium Mediazona reports that Karelina has been a US citizen since 2021
Treason charges carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years
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. Numerous posts on her Facebook page show her in Baltimore, Maryland as of 2014.
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 on November 3, 2021 after posting a series of photos showing her gaining citizenship.
On that profile, Karelina said she attended the University of Maryland in Baltimore.
Razom, the New York-based 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 shared the above post on social media after obtaining her US citizenship in 2021
Karelina also said that she attended the University of Maryland in Baltimore
Karelina was first arrested on charges of 'petty hooliganism', for swearing
Karelina pictured with friends in a 2017 Facebook post
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'
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.
On the same day that Karelina's arrest was announced, Gershkovich appeared in court in Moscow, where his pre-trial detention was extended.
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.
'I do not rule out that the person you are referring to, Mr Gershkovich, will return to his motherland. We want the US special services to think about how they can contribute to achieving the goals that our special services pursue,” Putin told Carlson.
Numerous reports have suggested that Putin is interested in discussing an exchange involving Vadim Krasikov, the assassin responsible for the shooting of Chechen rebel Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin in 2019.