A ballet dancer from Los Angeles who has been in prison in Russia for donating to a charity providing aid to Ukraine, has been freed in a prisoner swap between the United States and Russia, Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed Thursday on a social media post.
Want to get caught up on what's happening in SoCal every weekday afternoon? Click to follow The L.A. Local wherever you get podcasts.
Ksenia Karelina, who was found guilty last year in a Russian court for treason for donating $51.80 to a U.S.-based charity providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine, told Reuters she was on her back to the United States on Thursday.
"American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States. She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year and President Trump secured her release. @POTUS will continue to work for the release of ALL Americans," Rubio wrote on social media.
Karelina was released in exchange for a Russian-German national jailed in the United States, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal.
"Today, President Trump brought home another wrongfully detained American from Russia," CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement to the Journal. "I'm proud of the CIA officers who worked tirelessly to support this effort, and we appreciate the Government of U.A.E. for enabling the exchange."
The Wall Street Journal reported that Karelina was released in exchange for the release of Arthur Petrov, a dual German-Russian citizen who was arrested in 2023 in Cyprus at the request of the U.S. on charges of exporting sensitive microelectronics.
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok
