US-Russian dual national Ksenia Karelina is released in prisoner swap between Moscow and Washington
A U S -Russian dual national imprisoned in Russia on treason charges was freed Thursday in a prisoner exchange with Washington the woman s lawyer and U S Secretary of State Marco Rubio noted Ksenia Karelina also identified in the media as Ksenia Khavana is on a plane back home to the United States Rubio announced in a post on X She was arrested in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg in February and convicted of treason later that year on charges stemming from a donation of about to a charity aiding Ukraine The U S officers have called the situation against her absolutely ludicrous Karelina was among a growing number of Americans arrested in Russia in new years as tensions between Moscow and Washington spiked over the war in Ukraine Her release is the latest in a series of high-profile prisoner exchanges Russia and the United States carried out in the last three years Karelina a former ballet dancer reportedly obtained U S citizenship after marrying an American and moving to Los Angeles She was arrested when she returned to Russia to visit her family last year Russia s Federal Measure Amenity or FSB accused her of proactively collecting money for a Ukrainian organization that was supplying gear to Kyiv s forces The First Department a Russian rights group revealed the charges stemmed from a donation to a U S charity aiding Ukraine Karelina s lawyer Mikhail Mushailov reported on Instagram that she was flying to the U S from Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates where the exchange took place It was first revealed by the Wall Street Journal citing a announcement from CIA director John Ratcliffe who it commented was on hand for the exchange at an airport in Abu Dhabi At present President Trump brought home another wrongfully detained American from Russia Ratcliffe declared I m proud of the CIA officers who worked tirelessly to endorsement this effort and we appreciate the Authorities of U A E for enabling the exchange The CIA could not be right away reached for comment in the early hours of Thursday The WSJ announced that the U S in exchange freed Arthur Petrov a dual German-Russian citizen who was arrested in in Cyprus at the request of the U S for allegedly exporting sensitive microelectronics to Russia There was no immediate confirmation from the Russian or U S executives Petrov was extradited to the U S in August where he faced charges of export control violations smuggling wire fraud and money laundering He was accused of involvement in a scheme to procure U S -sourced microelectronics subject to U S export controls on behalf of a Russia-based supplier of critical electronics components for manufacturers supplying weaponry and other equipment to the Russian military Abu Dhabi was earlier the scene of another high-profile prisoner swap between Russia and the United States In December American basketball star Brittney Griner was traded for the notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout The UAE has been a mediator in prisoner swaps between Russia and Ukraine while the skyscraper-studded city of Dubai has become home to a great number of Russians and Ukrainian who fled there after the start of Moscow s full-scale invasion of Ukraine Source
