A U.S. ballerina imprisoned for 12 years in Russia after contributing $51 to a charity supporting Ukraine has actually been released, according to her attorney and United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Ksenia Karelina was apprehended in Yekaterinburg in February in 2015 after going back to Russia to visit her household.
On Thursday, Mr Rubio verified that she had actually been launched and was on an airplane home to the U.S in a post on X, previously Twitter.
Karelina was released as part of a detainee exchange in between the U.S. and Russia, worked out in between the CIA and senior Russian intelligence authorities.
Her airplane left Abu Dhabi, where the exchange is happening, early in the early morning, her Russian attorney Mikhail Mushailov stated.
The UAE has a history of brokering detainee swaps in between Russia and Ukraine, along with managing another Russia-U.S. prominent swap in Abu Dhabi in December 2022.
Numerous Russians and Ukrainians got away to Dubai after the start of Moscow’s 2022 full-blown intrusion of Ukraine.
” Today, President Trump brought home another wrongfully apprehended American from Russia,” CIA Director John Ratcliffe informed the Wall Street Journal.
” I take pride in the CIA officers who worked relentlessly to support this effort, and we value the Federal government of U.A.E. for making it possible for the exchange.”
Karelina got United States citizenship in 2021 after weding an American and relocating to Los Angeles, where she operated at a medspa.
Russia’s FSB security service had actually declared she “proactively gathered cash in the interests of among the Ukrainian organisations, which was consequently utilized to acquire tactical medical products, devices, weapons, and ammo for the Ukrainian militaries”.
The charges came from a $51.80 contribution to a United States charity assisting Ukraine, according to the Russian rights group The First Department.
The U.S. authorities have actually called the case versus her “definitely ridiculous”.
Arthur Petrov, a double German-Russian resident, was released in exchange. He had actually been apprehended in Cyprus in 2023 at the demand of the U.S. for presumably exporting delicate microelectronics based on United States export controls, for a Russian military provider.
He was extradited to the United States in August 2024 and dealt with charges of smuggling, cash laundering, wire scams and export control offenses.
The swap follows Karelina’s partner, previous fighter champ Chris Van Heerden, promoted for her release on The Megyn Kelly Program the other day.
Van Heerden declared that American movie director Peter Berg and Ultimate Combating Champion President Dana White campaigned for her return, consisting of phoning to the United States federal government. The Independent might not confirm his claims.
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