US-Russian dual citizen, Ksenia Karelina has been released from a Russian prison as part of an overnight prisoner exchange, Secretary of State, Marco Rubio announced on Thursday.
Karelina, a 33-year-old ballet dancer, had been serving a 12-year sentence in a penal colony.
She was convicted of treason in August 2024.
Russian authorities accused her of organising fundraisers for Ukraine’s military, attending pro-Ukraine rallies, and posting anti-war messages on social media.
The US government maintained that she was wrongfully detained.
After her sentencing, Karelina’s fiancé, Chris van Heerden, spoke to ABC News Live.
He said, “All she did was donate $50 to a Ukrainian charity,” and insisted she had done nothing wrong.
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Karelina was exchanged for Artur Petrov, a German-Russian citizen accused of smuggling US technology to support the Russian military, according to Russia’s Federal Security Service.
Petrov was detained in Cyprus in 2023 at the request of the US and was later extradited.
A Justice Department notice stated that Petrov was involved in a scheme to obtain US-sourced microelectronics subject to export controls. The components were meant for a Russia-based supplier linked to military equipment production.
A 2024 statement on Petrov’s extradition said he was part of a network that secretly provided Russia’s military-industrial complex with “critical US technology, including the same types of microelectronics recovered from Russian weapons on Ukrainian battlefields.”
(ABC News)
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