US-Russian woman sentenced to 12 years in Russian prison

A Russian court has sentenced ballerina Ksenia Karelina to 12 years in prison for treason for donating $51 (£39) to a Ukrainian charity.

Karelina, who is a citizen of the United States and Russia, pleaded guilty last week after the trial was held behind closed doors.

He lived in Los Angeles and became a US citizen in 2021. He was arrested during a family visit last January in Yekaterinburg, about 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) east of Moscow.

Prosecutors had sought a 15-year prison sentence. The Yekaterinburg court found him guilty of treason and sentenced him to full state prison.

Karelina was accused by the Russian security service FSB of raising money for a Ukrainian organization that supplies weapons to the Ukrainian military.

The charity, Razom, said it was “surprised” to hear of the amateur ballerina’s arrest.

He was tried in June in the same court as Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who was arrested for espionage but released earlier this month as part of a prisoner exchange with the US and other countries.

Her boyfriend, boxer Chris van Heerden, said last week that the case had upset and confused him.

“I couldn’t for the life of me put myself in his shoes and think about what he’s going through,” he said.