L.A. ballerina imprisoned by Russia for treason has been freed
A Russian-American woman who was imprisoned for treason by Russia has been freed, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday.
A Russian-American woman who was imprisoned for treason by Russia has been freed, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday.
Former ballerina Ksenia Karelina was born in Russia but had built a new life as an aesthetician at a Los Angeles spa after immigrating to the United States more than a decade ago. She “is on a plane back home to the United States,” having been “wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year,” Rubio said on in a post on X. He credited President Donald Trump with securing her release.
Karelina’s lawyer, Mikhail Mushailov, confirmed her release in a statement on Instagram. “Two hours ago she was in touch with her relatives and took off from Abu Dhabi to the U.S.,” he wrote, adding that he had known about her release since Tuesday.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) detained Karelina in January 2024 while she was visiting her parents and younger sister in the southwestern Russian city of Yekaterinburg. It did not provide further details or evidence of her alleged crime.
At the time, the Russian legal group Perviy Otdel said it had information that Karelina had donated just more than $51.80 from her U.S. bank account Feb. 24, 2022 — the day that Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine — to a charity that sends aid to Ukraine. A spa where she had previously worked confirmed this in a statement on Facebook.
Rating: 5