Former ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor has said the arrest of a Russian-American dancer is akin to Vladimir Putin giving the middle finger to the United States.
During an appearance on CUOMO on NewsNation, the diplomat was asked if Ksenia Karelina’s arrest for high treason was a way for Putin to show disdain for the United States after he gave an interview to American provocateur Tucker Carlson.
The dual citizen, from Los Angeles, was arrested on the same day in January that Putin sat down for his widely criticized interview with Carlson.
“I think he’s giving it to America, to Americans and to anyone who opposes him,” Taylor responded when Cuomo asked if Putin was giving Biden the Italian equivalent of a middle finger.
‘That’s what he’s done, he’s established a system of oppression that doesn’t tolerate dissent, and that’s what’s happening here.
During an appearance on CUOMO on NewsNation, former ambassador Bill Taylor was asked if Ksenia Karelina’s arrest for high treason was a way for Putin to show disdain for the United States.
Karelina is accused of raising funds for a pro-Ukrainian organization; she obtained US citizenship in 2021
“It’s about what’s happening in Russia today: Putin is more repressive, more oppressive to anyone there, whether they’re Americans or Russians, than at any other time in living memory, going back to Stalin.”
Taylor, who served under President George W. Bush, went on to say that the US government should intervene if it discovers that Karelina was unjustly detained by Putin’s Federal Security Service.
He added: “If she has been detained illegally, then we are going full speed ahead, we have people whose job it is to start figuring out how to get her back.”
Karelina has been accused of raising funds for the Ukrainian cause by transferring $51.80 from a US bank account to a New York-based 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.”
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.
Karelina moved to the US after graduating from college in her native country in 2013.
On her Facebook page, Karelina says she is from Yekaterinburg and studied ballet at the SP Diaghilev school.
Karelina was arrested for the first time accused of “minor vandalism”, for saying bad words
“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 reports.
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.