An American citizen detained in Russia was released on Thursday in an early morning prisoner exchange.
Russian authorities arrested Ksenia Karelina, who lives in Los Angeles, in early 2024 during a visit to see her 90-year-old grandmother and other family members. Law enforcement flagged her at the airport after noting she had a U.S. passport and searched her phone, where they found a $51.80 donation she made to Razom, a pro-Ukraine charity, in 2022 while she was in the States.
Karelina was initially arrested for "petty hooliganism." The government then raised the charge to treason, for which she received a 12-year sentence following a closed-door trial. Born in Yekaterinburg, Russia, she immigrated to the U.S. in 2012 and became a citizen in 2021.
