MOSCOW: US-Russian citizen Ksenia Karelina was sentenced to 12 years in prison for “treason” by a Russian court on Thursday, after allegedly donating a little over $50 to a pro-Ukraine charity.
Karelina, a 32-year-old ballet dancer and spa worker living and working in Los Angeles, was detained by police in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg in late January while visiting family.
“The court found Ksenia Karelina guilty of high treason and sentenced her to 12 years´ imprisonment in a general regime colony,” the Sverdlovsk Regional Court in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg said.
Karelina stood in a glass defendant´s cage wearing a white top and jeans as the verdict was read out, a video posted by the court showed.