A Russian court has sentenced amateur ballerina Ksenia Karelina to 12 years in prison for treason after she donated $51 to a charity supporting Ukraine.
Karelina, who holds both American and Russian citizenship, pleaded guilty last week following a closed-door trial in Yekaterinburg.
She had been arrested during a family visit to the city in January 2023.
Prosecutors had sought a 15-year sentence, but the court ultimately imposed a 12-year prison term. Karelina was found guilty of high treason and sentenced to a general regime penal colony.
The FSB security service accused Karelina of raising funds for a Ukrainian organization that provided arms to the Ukrainian military.
However, human rights activists said she had only made a single transfer of $51.80 on the first day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Karelina’s lawyer, Mikhail Mushailov, argued that she believed the funds would be used to help victims on both sides of the conflict.
He has indicated that she will appeal the sentence.
The charity, Razom for Ukraine, denied raising money for weapons or ammunition, emphasizing its focus on humanitarian aid and disaster relief.
Karelina’s case was heard in the same court as Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was also jailed on espionage charges but was later released in a prisoner swap.
The cases were tried by the same judge, Andrei Mineev.
Ksenia Karelina’s boyfriend, boxer Chris van Heerden, expressed his anger at the situation on Thursday.
