A US-Russian dual citizen was arrested in Russia on charges of treason for allegedly donating just $51 to a Ukrainian charity, her Californian employer said.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said the detainee, a 33-year-old woman who lives in Los Angeles, was arrested in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg for “providing financial assistance to a foreign state in activities directed against Russia security.”
Video shared by Russian state media RIA Novosti showed a woman with a hat pulled over her eyes being escorted by a security official before being handcuffed and appearing in a courtroom holding cell.
A US official told CNN the woman is Ksenia Karelina, who became a US citizen in 2021. Karelina entered Russia on January 2 and the US learned of her arrest on February 8, the official said.
Karelina is accused of donating $51.80 to a Ukrainian charity in the US, according to a statement from her employer, a spa at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
“Ciel Spa management and team is devastated to share that our beloved esthetician and friend, Ksenia Karelina, has been wrongly accused, arrested, and [is] currently being held in the Russian Prison system,” the statement said.
“Ksenia, a dual citizen, went to Russia to visit her 90-year-old grandmother, parents and younger sister. She has been accused of treason for allegedly donating $51.80 to a Ukrainian charity in the US.”
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/20/europe/russia-arrest-us-dual-citizen-intl/index.html