Russian-American on Trial for $51.80 Ukraine Donation

Ksenia Karelina, a Russian-American, is currently facing trial in Yekaterinburg, Russia, accused of treason for allegedly raising funds for Ukraine’s military through a $51.80 donation to a pro-Ukraine charity. The trial, which began on Thursday, has been adjourned until Aug. 7 for unspecified reasons.

Karelina, 33, was arrested in February at a Russian airport while en route to visit her 90-year-old grandmother, following a vacation in Istanbul with her boyfriend, Chris Van Heerden, who later returned to California. Van Heerden had bought her tickets to Russia as a gift, as she was feeling homesick.

The arrest was announced by Russia’s Federal Security Service, claiming that an unnamed Los Angeles resident with dual Russian and American citizenship was “proactively collecting funds in the interests of a Ukrainian organization” since February 2022. Karelina is alleged to have donated $51.80 to the New York-based charity Razom for Ukraine, as confirmed by the spa in Beverly Hills where she previously worked.

Despite efforts by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to contact Karelina, Russia has not acknowledged her U.S. citizenship and is unlikely to grant access, according to State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.

Karelina moved to the U.S. in 2015 to study at the University of Maryland in Baltimore before settling in Los Angeles. She had no relatives in the U.S. and traveled to Russia at least once a year since leaving her home country. Her current visit was intended to last two weeks to visit her grandmother, parents, and sister.

The case is part of a series of detentions of American citizens in Russia in recent years. Staff Sgt. Gordon Black was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for stealing from and threatening to kill his Russian girlfriend. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested on espionage charges, accused of gathering information about a Russian military facility for the CIA. The State Department and other U.S. officials have denounced Gershkovich’s detention as wrongful. WNBA star Brittney Griner spent 10 months in a Russian prison on drug possession charges before being released in a prisoner swap. In 2018, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan was arrested on spying charges, and the U.S. has been working to secure the release of both Gershkovich and Whelan.