Russian court gives 12-year treason sentence to Russian-American over $50 charity donation

A Russian court has sentenced a Russian-American woman to 12 years in prison for treason after she made a donation of just over $50 to a US-based charity supporting Ukraine.

Ksenia Karelina, 33, had pleaded guilty to the charges. She was detained in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg earlier this year while visiting her grandparents.

The verdict was announced Thursday after a closed-doors trial at Sverdlovsk regional court that ended last week. Investigators said Karelina had sent money to purchase equipment and ammunition for the Ukrainian army, RIA Novosti reported.

Karelina’s lawyer, Mikhail Mushailov, told Russian media he would appeal the verdict.

John Kirby, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, said “I think the way we would describe this sentence of 12 years is vindictive cruelty.”

He added: “We’re talking about 50 bucks to try to alleviate the suffering of people and to call that treason, is just absolutely ludicrous.”

Karelina’s conviction comes two weeks after Russia and the West carried out the largest prisoner swap since the Cold War, where 24 people, including former US Marine Paul Whelan and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, were released as part of a sweeping deal involving at least seven countries.

Ahead of the verdict, Mushailov told Reuters she hoped to be included in a future swap.

“An exchange is impossible until the court verdict comes into force,” he told reporters. “After the verdict, of course, we will work in this direction.”

Karelina, a Los Angeles resident and amateur ballerina who became a US citizen in 2021, traveled to Russia in January to visit her grandparents.

Chris Van Heerden, Karelina’s boyfriend, told CNN her sentence was “ridiculous” and expressed anger that she had not been included in the prisoner swap earlier this month.

“I’m sad, I’m angry. I’m trying to process all of this – trying to figure out how did we end up here?” he said. “I know it’s been eight months, but it feels like yesterday I said goodbye at the airport in Istanbul, and I was going see her in a month. And now she’s going to prison for 12 years.”

He wrote a letter to Karelina on Wednesday night, knowing she may not receive it until she reaches her prison camp.

“I wanted to make sure she knows that she’s loved, that she’s not forgotten, that we are fighting for every single day. That it’s not just me, but it’s America. And I wanted to let her know that America has not forgotten you. Stay strong,” van Heerden said.

The organization to which Karelina reportedly gave money, the New York-based non-profit Razom for Ukraine, has said it was “appalled” by her detention.

Karelina’s conviction comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin in April last year increased the maximum sentence for treason from 20 years to life in prison, as part of the crackdown on dissent that has intensified over two-and-a-half years of war.

Her trial was held in the same court in Yekaterinburg where just last month Evan Gershkovich was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 16 years in prison, before his release in the prisoner swap. Both cases were heard by Judge Andrei Mineev.

CNN’s Jennifer Hansler and Sam Fossum contributed reporting.