Russia jails US-Russian woman for 12 years for 'high treason'

Ksenia Karelina, also known as Khavana speaks with her lawyer standing in a glass cage in a court room in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024.

Ksenia Karelina, a U.S.-Russian citizen, was traveling to Yekaterinburg to visit her family after a trip to Istanbul when a court sentenced her to 12 years in prison on treason charges related to her $50 donation to a pro-Ukraine charity.

The 32-year-old ballet dancer and spa worker from Los Angeles was detained in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg in January while visiting family.

"The court found Ksenia Karelina guilty of high treason and sentenced her to 12 years' imprisonment in a general regime colony," the Sverdlovsk Regional Court in Yekaterinburg said.

Karelina stood in a glass defendant's cage wearing a white top and jeans as the verdict was read out, a video posted by the court showed.

She donated $51.80 to New York-based charity "Razom for Ukraine" shortly after Russia launched its full-scale military offensive in February 2022, U.S. media outlets reported, citing her family and employer.

Russia's FSB security service accused her of collecting money that was "used to purchase tactical medical supplies, equipment, weapons and ammunition for the Ukrainian armed forces."

She pleaded guilty to the charges at a hearing last week, state media said.

The White House denounced the court verdict as "nothing less than just vindictive cruelty."

"We're talking about 50 bucks to try to alleviate the suffering of the people of Ukraine, and to call that treason is just absolutely ludicrous," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

 'Wrongly accused' 

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