Russian-American Ksenia Karelina was sentenced to 12 years in a penal colony by a Russian court on Thursday after plead guilty to treason earlier this month. She was arrested earlier this year during a trip to Russia for donating $51 to a U.S. humanitarian organization that helps Ukrainians suffering in the war, Russian state media reported.
Russia accused Karelina of raising money to buy supplies for the Ukrainian army.
Karelina was held in January, when she received a gift plane ticket from her boyfriend to fly back to her parents and younger sister in the eastern city of Yekaterinburg, according to her former mother-in-law, Eleonora Srebroski.
She was initially arrested by Russia’s Federal Security Service for “petty hooliganism,” but the charge was later upgraded to treason.
The court said Thursday that the sentence will take effect in 15 days, “unless the parties appeal.”
Karelina’s lawyer called the prosecutor’s earlier request for a 15-year prison sentence “harsh” and said he would take “all legally relevant measures” to try to include his client in a future prisoner exchange. He said Karelina was fully cooperating with the investigation.
“After the verdict, of course, we will work in this direction,” Karelina’s lawyer said. “This is the client’s wish, so I will take all legally important actions to ensure that this is carried out.”
Karelina’s trial was presided over by the same judge who sentenced Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in prison. Gershkovich was released as part of a prisoner exchange earlier this month.
