US-Russian ballerina Ksenia Karelina jailed over Ukraine charity donation released in prisoner swap

Ballerina Ksenia Karelina – jailed in Russia after giving £40 to a charity supporting Ukraine – has been released as part of a prisoner swap deal with the US.

The 34-year-old US-Russian citizen was accused of treason when she was arrested in Yekaterinburg, in southwestern Russia, in February.

Investigators searched her mobile phone and found that she made a $51.80 (£40) donation to Razom, a charity that provides aid to Ukraine, on the first day of Russia’s invasion in 2022.

She admitted the charge at a closed trial in the city in August last year and was later jailed for 12 years.

Mikhail Mushailov, Ms Karelina’s lawyer, said on Instagram that she had been flown to the US from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio added that Ms Karelina “was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year,” and said “President Trump secured her release… (and) will continue to work for the release of ALL Americans”.

Ms Karelina, an amateur ballerina, was born in Russia but moved to the US in 2012 and became a citizen in 2021. She had moved to Los Angeles, where she worked in a spa.

She had been back in Russia visiting family at the start of the year when she was arrested, according to rights group The First Department.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed she had proactively collected the money in the interests of one of the Ukrainian organisations before it jailed her.

It claimed the donation was “used to purchase tactical medical supplies, equipment, weapons and ammunition for the Ukrainian armed forces”.

The charity denied it provided any military support to Kyiv.