Ksenia Karelina, a Russian American citizen who is accused of treason for making a donation to a nonprofit that supports Ukraine, faces a 15-year sentence, according to Russian prosecutors.
Karelina is on trial in Yekaterinburg. She was left out of a significant prisoner swap between Russia and the West last week that also resulted in the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
According to Mikhail Mushailov, her attorney, the prosecution has asked for a sentence of fifteen years in a general regime correctional colony. This was reported by Russian state media on Thursday.
She entered a guilty plea, and according to the court press office, she made a final request to the judge on Thursday. August 15 is when the verdict is expected.
Originally from Russia, Karelina immigrated to the US in 2012 and obtained US citizenship in 2021. At the beginning of the year, the employee of a spa in Los Angeles was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) following her trip to Yekaterinburg, Russia, to visit her relatives.
The treason allegation was made by investigators when they found on her cell phone that she had given $51.80 to Razom, a humanitarian organization that aids Ukraine during Russia’s invasion of its neighbor in February 2022
According to the FSB, the Ukrainian army benefited the most in the end.
He claimed that she had entered a guilty plea because “it was stupid in this situation to deny the obvious” and in an attempt to receive a lighter punishment.
When Razom was arrested, she stated that she was “appalled.” According to the charity’s website, it funds various humanitarian initiatives such as providing first aid kits, wood heaters, generators, radios, cars, and supplies to front-line Ukrainian doctors.
Many Westerners and dual nationalities are detained in Russia, like the Russian American Yuri Malev, who was sentenced to three and a half years in June for remarks on social media purportedly making fun of a patriotic ribbon connected to the Soviet Union’s victory in World War II.
In December 2023, he was sent in pre-trial prison after being found guilty of “rehabilitating Nazism.” Malev admitted his guilt. Malev was a security guard in NYC.
Having been convicted of “rehabilitating Nazism,” he has been detained pending trial since December 2023. Malev, a security guard in New York, entered a guilty plea.
The 48-year-old Frenchman Laurent Vinatier, who works for the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, was detained in Moscow in June on suspicion of failing to register as a “foreign agent” and providing military intelligence to foreign governments—a crime carrying a maximum five-year prison sentence.
In the past, Russia has targeted critics of the Kremlin with the law, but not usually foreign nationals.
Other Americans detained on a range of charges include Marc Fogel, a former teacher serving a 14-year sentence for possessing medical marijuana that he claimed to be used to treat pain, and Gordon Black, a soldier who was sentenced to three years and nine months in June for attacking and stealing from his Russian girlfriend.
