The American ballerina accused of committing treason by donating $51.80 to Ukraine's military has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Ksenia Karelina, 33, was today sentenced to 12 years imprisonment in a general regime colony after pleading guilty to 'high treason' charges last week.
Karelina, who was born in Russia and obtained US citizenship after marrying an American and moving to Los Angeles, was arrested in Yekaterinburg in February. She had returned to her original homeland to visit relatives including a grandmother in her 90s.
When she arrived at Koltsovo airport in late January, law enforcement officials checked her cell phone using the search word 'Ukraine'. They allegedly found evidence of a bank transfer to a pro-Ukrainian foundation in America.
She was later detained and charged with treason. Karelina pleaded guilty in her closed trial last week, news reports said.
Russian-American ballerina Ksenia Karelina (pictured) has been found guilty of 'high treason' by a Russian court and was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment in a general regime colony
Karelina (pictured on Thursday) was in a glass defendant's cage wearing a white top and jeans as the guilty verdict was read out at a court hearing in Yekaterinburg on Thursday
'The court found Ksenia Karelina guilty of high treason and sentenced her to 12 years' imprisonment in a general regime colony,' the Sverdlovsk Regional Court in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg said on Thursday.
Karelina stood in a glass defendant's cage wearing a white top and jeans as the verdict was read out, a video posted by the court showed.
Investigators found Karelina had on February 24, 2022 - the first day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine - had donated to an organization that supports Ukrainian war efforts, the court heard.
Russia's Federal Security Service said she 'transferred funds in the interests of a Ukrainian organization, which were subsequently used for the purchase of tactical medicine items, equipment, means of defeat and ammunition by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.'
Her supporters say she had donated $51.80 to Razom for Ukraine, a New York-based charity that provides humanitarian aid to children and elderly people in Ukraine. The charity has denied it provides any military support to Kyiv.
The Los Angeles resident pleaded guilty at her closed trial in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, where her case was heard by the same court that convicted Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich of espionage in July.
The 33-year-old ballerina and spa worker was not included in a major prisoner swap between Russia and the West last week that freed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was convicted of espionage in July.
But Karelina's lawyer Mikhail Mushailov has said she hoped to be included in a future exchange.
Karelina (pictured) reportedly obtained US citizenship after marrying an American and moving to Los Angeles. She was arrested in Yekaterinburg, Russia in February while visiting family
She pleaded guilty in her closed trial last week. Karelina is seen speaking with her lawyer as she stands in a glass cage in a court room in Yekaterinburg, Russia on August 15, 2024
Karelina was first detained on 27 January while visiting family in the city of Yekaterinburg, almost a month after flying out to Russia, according to a Russian rights group.
It is understood that when she arrived at Koltsovo airport law enforcement searched the word 'Ukraine' in her phone and found evidence of the donation.
Law enforcement allegedly found evidence of a bank transfer for $51.80 to a pro-Ukrainian foundation in America.
They did not detain her immediately but invited her the next day to come to a police station.
When she arrived, it is reported by Yekaterinburg journalist Dmitry Kolezev, that she was confronted by FSB officers.
Russian regional news agency URA.RU reported the charge was related to 'swearing in a public place', an accusation she rejected in court, according to the Mediazona news outlet.
She was initially held for 14 days after being detained for 'petty hooliganism' but was never released, as authorities charged her with 'treason' while she was in custody.
Karelina, who worked at a spa in Beverley Hills, had travelled home around the New Year after her boyfriend surprised her with a plane ticket. She is pictured in New York City
Her former mother-in-law, Eleonora Srebroski, told Reuters in February that Karelina, who worked at a spa in Beverley Hills, had travelled home around the New Year after her boyfriend surprised her with a plane ticket.
She had assured her boyfriend that Russia was 'safe' and that he had no reason to fear her traveling there, according to Srebroski.
Srebroski said Karelina had made a small donation to Razom for Ukraine, a New York-based nonprofit that sends non-military assistance to the country, invaded by Russian forces in 2022.
Karelina, who is in her early thirties, arrived in the US in 2012 via a work-study program and was briefly married to Srebroski's son. Her ex-husband has described her as a fun-loving woman who didn't care much for politics.
Karelina's employer, the Ciel Spa at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, wrote on Facebook in February that she had been 'wrongly accused'.
Her current partner has also publicly petitioned for her release.
On her Facebook page, Karelina says that she's from Yekaterinburg and that she studied ballet at the S. P. Diaghilev school
Russia often arrests foreigners on minor charges before accusing them of more serious offences like treason or espionage.
Washington has accused Moscow of arresting its citizens on baseless charges to use them as bargaining chips to secure the release of Russians convicted abroad.
Karelina's sentencing comes just over two weeks after Russia freed US reporter Evan Gershkovich, former US marine Paul Whelan and 14 others in its biggest prisoner swap with the West since the Cold War.
On Wednesday, an American man accused of violence against a Russian law enforcement officer in Moscow was sentenced to 15 days in custody for 'hooliganism'.
