(NationRise.com) – A 33-year-old US-Russian citizen named Ksenia Karelina was detained by Russian authorities on February 19 on suspicion of treason. Moscow officials said that the Los Angeles resident was allegedly raising funds for the Ukrainian military to repel Russian invaders.
According to a Russian news agency, TASS report, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said in a statement that Karelina was working with an unnamed organization from Ukraine that benefited the country’s armed forces. About the arrest, the intelligence agency said that the 33-year-old woman has been collecting money since February 2022 that has been used to buy ammunition, weapons, military equipment, and medicine for Ukraine’s military.
As reported by pro-Kremlin Russia’s media outlet Mediazone, Russian authorities arrested her in Yekaterinburg, with police initially accusing her of “hooliganism” for swearing. She was in a city detention center when authorities charged her under Article 275 of the nation’s criminal code, which carries a prison term of between 12 and 20 years.
Human Rights organization First Department said on its Telegram channel that Karelina is currently facing charges of treason for allegedly sending $51,800 from an American bank account to nonprofit Razom. The group has been saying in numerous statements that its primary goal is to establish a “democratic” and “prosperous” Ukraine.
A spokesman for the United States embassy in Moscow told the New York Post that while they are fully aware of the reports regarding Karelina’s situation, they have nothing to “convey” at the moment because of privacy considerations.
According to Karelina’s Facebook profile, she’s originally from Yekaterinburg and even studied at the city’s Sergei Diaghilev Lyceum before graduating from the Ural Federal University back in 2013. News of her arrest came a couple of hours after the Moscow City Court officially rejected the appeal on espionage charges of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. The journalist was detained by the FSB in 2023 in Yekaterinburg and will now remain behind bars through at least March 30.
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