Los Angeles woman sentenced to 12 years in prison in Russia for treason

A ballerina and beautician from Los Angeles was sentenced to 12 years in a Russian prison on Thursday after pleading guilty to treason for donating $51 to a charity for Ukraine.

Ksenia Karelina, who worked as a manager at the Ciel Spa Beverly Hills at the SLS Hotel, was arrested in Russia in February and accused of providing financial support to Ukraine. Last week she pleaded guilty to treason.

Karelina had donated around $51 to a New York-based Ukrainian human rights organization in February 2022, the same day Russia invaded Ukraine. The charity claims to provide humanitarian aid to seniors and children in Ukraine, but Russian authorities claimed the donation helped fund military support for Ukraine.

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Karelina, a Russian who became a U.S. citizen in 2021 through her marriage to an American, was originally detained in Yekaterinburg, where she had traveled to visit her family.

The Russian domestic intelligence service claimed at the time that she had been “involved in providing financial support to a foreign state in activities directed against the security of our country.”

“Since February 2022, in the interests of one of the Ukrainian organizations, she proactively collected funds that were subsequently used to purchase tactical medicines, equipment, weapons and ammunition by the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” the Federal Security Service said. “In addition to the United States, this citizen repeatedly participated in public actions in support of the Kyiv regime.”

Khavana is a ballet dancer. According to her social media pages, she received her dance training at the SP Diaghilev School in Yekaterinburg, Russia, graduated from the Ural Federal University, and started dancing in Baltimore in 2014.

Her lawyer, Mikhail Mushailov, told reporters in Russia last week that Karelina had fully cooperated with investigators.

Karelina was not part of a recent prisoner exchange that included the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was also arrested in Yekaterinburg. Karelina's lawyer said she was not eligible to take part in the prisoner exchange because no final verdict had been reached in her case.

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