The mother-in-law of a Russian-American is pleading with the White House to intervene in her rescue after she was accused of treason in Russia for donating $51 to the Ukrainian cause.
“If the United States doesn’t help, he will spend the rest of his life in prison,” Eleonora Srebroski told DailyMail.com on Tuesday. “I’m scared for her and I’m very worried that she could be physically harmed or killed there in prison.”
Videos published by a Russian news agency on Tuesday showed the 32-year-old woman being led by Federal Security Service officers into a courtroom handcuffed and blindfolded.
“She is a beautiful person and a beautiful soul,” the worried mother-in-law added from her home in Maryland. “I love her and I will do anything to help her.”
Karelina is a resident of Los Angeles and became a US citizen in 2021. Her social media pages are filled with photos of her smiling and loving life in the United States. She married her husband Eugene Khavana, who is also originally from Russia, in the US in 2013, after they met in Maryland.
Karelina moved to the US after graduating from college in her native country in 2013.
Vladimir Putin’s secretive Federal Security Service arrested Russian-American double dancer Ksenia Karelina, 32, on treason charges.
Karelina, who is shown dancing on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, was previously a student at the University of Maryland.
A statement from Russian officials refers to Karelina as a resident of Los Angeles.
Lawyers have said Karelina was originally arrested on charges of “petty vandalism” after being accused of swearing outside a movie theater.
The dancer was arrested the same day in January that Putin sat down for his widely criticized interview with Tucker Carlson. The arrest took place in front of a cinema in Yekaterinburg. The initial charges were related to profanity offences.
Yekaterinburg, the largest city in the Ural region, is also where Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich was arrested on espionage charges nearly 12 months ago.
Following her initial arrest, Karelina was accused of raising funds for a Ukrainian military cause. She is specifically accused of transferring $51.80 from a US bank account to the Ukrainian charity Razom.
Treason charges can carry penalties of up to 20 years in prison. Since 2023, 63 people have been charged with treason in Russia and 37 have been found guilty.
‘The White House and the State Department are aware of reports that a dual US-Russian citizen has been detained in Russia. “We are working to obtain more information and secure consular access to the individual,” a White House official told DailyMail.com.
Currently, the State Department has a Do Not Travel to Russia warning specifically due to the risk of “wrongful detention.”
Karelina graduated from the Ural Federal University in 2013. Numerous posts on her Facebook page show her in Baltimore, Maryland, as of 2014.
She is specifically accused of transferring $51.80 from a US bank account to the Ukrainian charity Razom.
On her Facebook page, Karelina says she is from Yekaterinburg and studied ballet at the SP Diaghilev school.
The dancer is accused of “proactively raising funds since February 2022 in the interests of a Ukrainian organization, which were subsequently used to purchase tactical medicines, equipment, weapons and ammunition for the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the FSB alleges.
“In addition, the citizen in question repeatedly participated in public actions in support of the kyiv regime while in the United States,” the agency added. The Moscow Times.
On her Facebook page, Karelina says she is from Yekaterinburg and studied ballet at the SP Diaghilev school.
The Russian-language media Mediazona reports that Karelina has been a US citizen since 2021
Treason charges can carry penalties of up to 20 years in prison.
The Russian-language media Mediazona reports that Karelina has been a US citizen since 2021 and that in 2023 she married an American man.
Karelina graduated from the Ural Federal University in 2013. Numerous posts on her Facebook page show her in Baltimore, Maryland, as of 2014.
Mediazona reports that Karelina was first arrested on charges of “petty vandalism,” for using profanity. While she was in custody, those charges were upgraded to “high treason.”
The outlet goes on to report that Karelina stopped posting on the Russian social media site VK on November 3, 2021 after posting a series of photographs showing her obtaining citizenship.
Regarding that profile, Karelina said that she studied at the University of Maryland in Baltimore.
Razom, the New York-based Ukrainian charity he is accused of supporting, describes itself as “contributing to the establishment of a secure, prosperous and democratic Ukraine.”
On her LinkedIn page, Karelina says she works as a manager at Ciel Spa Beverly Hills, a position she has held since 2019.
Karelina shared the above post on social media after obtaining her US citizenship in 2021.
Karelina has also said that she studied at the University of Maryland in Baltimore.
Karelina was arrested for the first time accused of “minor vandalism”, for saying bad words
Karelina photographed with friends in a 2017 Facebook post
On her LinkedIn page, Karelina says she works as a manager at Ciel Spa Beverly Hills, a position she has held since 2019.
Mediazona reports that Karelina was first arrested on charges of “petty vandalism,” for using profanity. While she was in custody, those charges were upgraded to “high treason.”
Karelina is the latest American behind bars in Russia, in addition to Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and Texas father David Barnes, 65, who last week was sentenced to 21 years in prison in Moscow on abuse charges. childish.
On the same day that Karelina’s arrest was announced, Gershkovich appeared before a Moscow court where his preventive detention was extended.
Earlier this month, Putin told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in an interview that he was open to the idea of releasing Americans detained in Russian prisons, but did not discuss specific details.
‘I do not rule out that the person you are referring to, Mr. Gershkovich, may return to his homeland. We want the American special services to think about how they can contribute to achieving the goals pursued by our special services,” Putin told Carlson.
Numerous reports have suggested that Putin is interested in discussing a swap involving Vadim Krasikov, the assassin responsible for the shooting of Chechen rebel Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin in 2019.
Karelina’s arrest comes as Putin faces increased international pressure over the mysterious death of dissident Alexey Navalny in a Russian prison.
Western leaders and Navalny’s family have pointed the finger at the Kremlin following news of the activist’s death at age 47.