Russia seeks 15-year sentence for US-Russian ballerina

Russian prosecutors have requested a 15-year prison sentence for a dual US-Russian national charged with “treason” for making a donation to a pro-Ukraine organisation.

The FSB security service said in February it had arrested ballerina Ksenia Karelina, who lives in the United States and was visiting family in Russia, accusing her of providing financial assistance to the Ukrainian army.

“The state prosecutor asked the court to sentence Karelina to 15 years in prison,” the Sverdlovsk Regional Court in the Urals city of Ekaterinburg said in a statement Thursday.

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Her lawyer, Mikhail Mushailov, also confirmed the 15-year request in a post on his Instagram account.

Karelina donated around $50 to a US-based pro-Ukraine charity after Russia launched its full-scale military offensive in 2022, US media reported, citing her family and employer.

Russia’s FSB security service accused her of collecting money that was “used to purchase tactical medical supplies, equipment, weapons and ammunition for the Ukrainian armed forces.”

“The defendant pleaded guilty,” the court said in its statement.

The verdict will be delivered next Thursday.

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Russian courts almost always side with the prosecution, and acquittals in treason cases are almost unheard of.

Moscow has launched dozens of criminal cases against Russian citizens it accuses of supporting or collaborating with Kyiv.

Karelina, who is in her early 30s and worked in Los Angeles, is just one of a string of US citizens and dual nationals that have also been targeted.

Last week Russia released three of them — journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, as well as ex-marine Paul Whelan — in the largest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War.

© Agence France-Presse