Dual Russian-American citizen Ksenia Karelina was sentenced to 12 years in prison yesterday after a Russian court found her guilty of treason for donating $51 to a charity supporting Ukraine.
The Los Angeles spa worker pleaded guilty at her closed trial in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, where her case was heard by the same court and judge that convicted Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich of espionage in July.
The court said investigators found that on February 24, 2022 – the first day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – Karelina had “transferred funds in the interests of a Ukrainian organisation, which were subsequently used for the purchase of tactical medicine items, equipment, means of defeat and ammunition by the Armed Forces of Ukraine”.
She had donated $51.80 to Razom for Ukraine, a New York-based charity that provides humanitarian aid to children and elderly people in Ukraine. The charity has denied it provides any military support to Kyiv.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby called the sentencing cruel and said the US would continue to seek consular access to her and press for her release.
“It’s nothing less than vindictive cruelty. We’re talking about 50 bucks to try to alleviate the suffering of the people in Ukraine, and to call that treason is just absolutely ridiculous,” Kirby told reporters.
Christopher van Heerden, Karelina’s boyfriend, said he was “angry and sad” at the 12-year sentence, and called on the US State Department to declare her “wrongfully detained”, a designation that would make winning her freedom a US government priority.
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