Who is Ksenia Karelina? Russian-American ballerina released in prisoner swap

“American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States. She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year and President Trump secured her release,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X.

Who is Ksenia Karelina?

Karelina, who was born in 1991 in Russia, moved to the US on a work-study programme in 2012. Following her arrival in the States, she settled in Maryland, where she was briefly married. The ballerina later moved to Los Angeles and took up a job as an aesthetician at a local spa.

ALSO READ: 1,700 pounds of butter recalled in US over possible faecal contamination: FDA

In February 2024, Karelina was arrested while visiting her family in Yekaterinburg after agents from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) inspected her phone and found she had donated about $50 to Razon for Ukraine, a New York-based charity, providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine, per the outlet.

She was accused of collecting funds for the benefit of the Ukrainian army by the FSB. The charity said that its donations only go to humanitarian projects. Karelina was tried behind closed doors in Yekaterinburg, a city in the Urals. However, she pleaded guilty to the treason charge, hoping to receive a lighter sentence, according to her lawyer. Karelina was found guilty last year and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

ALSO READ: Mr Beast lambasts Trump’s tariffs, says it’ll be ‘way cheaper’ to make his Feastables products overseas

Karelina’s release marks the second time an American citizen has been freed from Russia since Donald Trump returned to the White House. Rubio added in his statement that the commander-in-chief would “continue to work for the release of ALL Americans.”