American woman detained for 'high treason' in Russia after raising money for Ukrainian army. Ksenia Karelina has been arrested by the FSB security services on treason charges. She is accused of raising $51 to...
Stunning images taken on the Brooklyn Bridge show a Russian-American ballerina arrested for high treason in Russia.
Dual Russian-American citizen Ksenia Karelina, 33, was arrested by Vladimir Putin's Federal Security Service, the FSB, on high treason charges, officials confirmed Tuesday.
A state-media video shows Russian soldiers leading the ballerina to court in Ekaterinburg, where a judge denied her bail, as reported by The Financial Times.
Karelina is a resident of Los Angeles who became a US citizen in 2021. Last summer, she married her American husband.
She was arrested on the same day that Putin sat down for a widely panned interview with Tucker Carlson outside of a movie theater in Yekaterinburg on swearing charges.
Yekaterinburg is also the same city where Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich was arrested on spying charges nearly 12 months ago.
Karelina was sentenced to 14 days detention for 'petty hooliganism' before she was slapped with treason charges.
She was then accused of fundraising for a Ukrainian military cause. She is specifically accused of transferring $51.80 from American bank account to Ukrainian charity, Razom, on the day Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022.
The ballerina has also been accused of attending 'public rallies in support of the Kyiv regime,' in the US.
Treason charges can carry penalties of up to 20 years in prison.
On her Facebook page, Karelina says that she's from Yekaterinburg and that she studied ballet at the S. P. Diaghilev school. She worked as a spa manager in Beverly Hills, per her social media accounts.
Karelina is accused of 'proactively collecting funds since February 2022 in the interests of a Ukrainian organization, which were subsequently used to purchase tactical medicine, equipment, weapons and ammunition for the Armed Forces of Ukraine,' the FSB alleges.
'In addition, the citizen in question repeatedly took part in public actions in support of the Kyiv regime while in the United States,' the agency added, reports The Moscow Times.
Russian language outlet Mediazona reports that Karelina has been a US citizen since 2021 and that in 2023 she married an American man.
Karelina is the latest American behind bars in Russia, in addition to Gershkovich, former US Marine Paul Whelan and Texas dad David Barnes, 65, who last week was sentenced to 21 years in prison in Moscow on child abuse charges.
On the same day that Karelina's arrest was announced, Gershkovich appeared in a Moscow court where he had his pre-trial detention 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 jails but did not discuss specifics.
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