Karelina, who holds both American and Russian citizenship, pled guilty last week after a closed-door trial. She had been residing in Los Angeles and became a U.S. citizen in 2021.
Karelina was arrested in January during a family visit to Yekaterinburg, roughly 1,600 km (1,000 miles) east of Moscow.
Prosecutors had sought a 15-year prison sentence. The court in Yekaterinburg convicted her of high treason and sentenced her to serve time in a general regime penal colony.
The FSB accused her of donating money to a Ukrainian organization that allegedly provided arms to the Ukrainian military.
Russian human rights activists reported that Karelina made a single $51.80 transfer on February 22, 2022, the day Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The FSB is believed to have discovered this transaction on her phone.
Karelina’s lawyer, Mikhail Mushailov, stated that she only acknowledged making the transfer, believing the funds would aid victims on both sides. He confirmed she plans to appeal the sentence.
The charity in question, Razom for Ukraine, has denied claims of raising funds for weapons, stating it focuses on humanitarian aid and disaster relief.
Karelina’s trial took place in the same court as that of Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter recently released in a major prisoner swap with the U.S. and other Western countries. Both cases were overseen by Judge Andrei Mineev.
Ksenia Karelina’s boyfriend, boxer Chris van Heerden, expressed his frustration with the U.S. State Department. “I woke up to the news this morning and am still processing what’s happening,” he told CBS News. “There was a prisoner swap two weeks ago, and Ksenia was not included. I’ve been advocating for her return for the past eight months. She should be home, and I’m trying to stay composed.”
Van Heerden also remarked on the BBC’s Newshour that he believed Karelina should never have returned to Russia this year and questioned whether she could be declared “wrongfully detained” to be included in future negotiations. “There were two people in the recent swap who weren’t declared ‘wrongfully detained’ and were released, so why isn’t Ksenia home?” he asked.
