Russia’s top security agency said Tuesday it had arrested a dual Russian-American citizen on charges of state treason for raising money for Ukraine.
He Federal Security Serviceknown as the FSB, identified the detainee as a 33-year-old woman living in Los Angeles.
He said in a statement that there money raised for a Ukrainian organization that purchased weapons and other equipment for the Ukrainian army.
Perviy Otdel, a group of Russian lawyers specializing in cases of treason and other political charges, said the woman was charged with treason for sending just over $50 to Razom for Ukrainea New York-based nonprofit that sends aid to the country.
The FSB said the woman was detained in the central Russian city of Yekaterinburg.
RIA Novosti, Russia’s state news agency, published a video showing the woman, wearing a white hat covering her eyes, handcuffed and escorted by masked security service officers.
If convicted, she could face a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
The detention of American citizens on Russian soil in recent years has raised suspicions that the Kremlin considers them precious goods who can be exchanged for high-profile Russians detained in the United States and other Western countries.
On the same day the woman’s arrest was announced, the Moscow court rejected the appeal Evan GershkovichAmerican journalist The Wall Street Journal whom Russia arrested last spring on charges of espionage, to revoke his preventive detention.
The court ruled that Gershkovich – who, along with his employer and the US government, has denied the charges against him – will have to remain in prison until at least the end of March.
The number of cases of state treason in Russia continued to grow following the large-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
Last year, some 50 people They were accused of this crime, according to Perviy Otdel, from high-level critics of the Kremlin to a student accused of photographing Russian army formations in his city.
The Yekaterinburg court was due to hear the recently detained woman’s appeal on Tuesday, according to the court’s website, which also said she had been charged with treason.
Russian media outlet Media Zona identified her as Ksenia Karelina.
Perviy Otdel identified her as Ksenia (Karelina) KhavanaKarelina is probably her maiden name.
According to Karelina’s profile on VK, a Russian social network, she obtained American citizenship in 2021.
Her profile, which also identified her as a student at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, said she graduated from Ural Federal University in Yekaterinburg in 2014.
According to Perviy Otdel, the woman was arrested at the end of January and charged with treason on February 7.
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Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.