The regional court of Yekaterinburg, in the Urals, delivered its verdict on Thursday August 15 in the trial of a Russian-American citizen accused of treason for a donation of a few dozen euros to an association in support of Ukraine.
Originally from Yekaterinburg, Ksenia Karelina emigrated to California over ten years ago, where she worked in a beauty salon in Los Angeles. Married to an American, she became an American citizen. In February 2024, during a visit to her grandparents in Russia, she was arrested by the Russian authorities. The court accused her of transferring around $51 (47.85 euros) to the Ukrainian-American non-governmental organization Razom for Ukraine, in the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
According to the court, these funds were used to purchase medical equipment, weapons and ammunition for the Ukrainian armed forces. During the trial, Karelina admitted her guilt, according to court statements. For its part, Razom for Ukraine denied collecting funds for the Ukrainian army, specifying that its military aid was limited to the supply of first-aid kits for nurses on the front line. Ksenia Karelina’s lawyer, Mikhail Mushailov, said his client was considering a “partial appeal against the verdict”, according to the Interfax news agency.
This condemnation comes against a backdrop of heightened tensions between the United States and Russia, with Washington accusing Moscow of deliberately targeting American citizens to use them as bargaining chips against Russians detained in Western countries. At the same time, another American citizen, Joseph Tater, was sentenced to 15 days’ administrative detention for vandalism. Russian authorities have hinted at the possibility of an investigation into other alleged offences.
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