Russian-American Ballerina Sentenced to 12 Years in Jail for Treason

On August 15, 2024, a Russ­ian court sen­tenced Russ­ian-Amer­i­can bal­le­ri­na Kse­nia Kare­li­na to 12 years in prison for treason.

The Los Ange­les res­i­dent was found guilty of trans­fer­ring funds to a Ukrain­ian orga­ni­za­tion that was used to pur­chase mil­i­tary equip­ment and sup­plies for the Ukrain­ian armed forces.

Donation to Humanitarian Charity Leads to Treason Conviction

Kare­li­na, who emi­grat­ed to the Unit­ed States in 2012 and became a U.S. cit­i­zen in 2021, plead­ed guilty at her closed-door tri­al in the city of Yekaterinburg. 

Her sup­port­ers say she had donat­ed $51.80 to Razom for Ukraine, a New York-based char­i­ty that pro­vides human­i­tar­i­an aid to chil­dren and the elder­ly in Ukraine. 

How­ev­er, the Russ­ian court claimed the funds were used to pur­chase “tac­ti­cal med­i­cine items, equip­ment, means of defeat and ammu­ni­tion” for the Ukrain­ian military.

Ballerina Sentenced Despite Prisoner Swap Between Russia and the West

Kare­li­na was not includ­ed in a major pris­on­er swap between Rus­sia and the West last week that freed Wall Street Jour­nal reporter Evan Ger­shkovich, who was con­vict­ed of espionage.

How­ev­er, her lawyer has stat­ed that she hopes to be includ­ed in a future exchange.

The 33-year-old bal­le­ri­na appeared in court on the day of her sen­tenc­ing, sit­ting calm­ly in a glass court­room cage while wear­ing a white sweat­shirt and blue jeans.

Her case was heard by the same court that con­vict­ed Ger­shkovich, reflect­ing the harsh crack­down on per­ceived dis­sent and sup­port for Ukraine by Russia.