US ballerina Ksenia Karelina jailed for 12 Years for 'high treason' in Russia over $50 donation to Ukrainian charity to be exchanged in February

This is according to Mikhail Mushailov, her lawyer, who is quoted in Russian media as saying: "Now I can say this. Ksenia will be exchanged in February 2025."

Ksenia Karelina, who lives in Los Angeles, was seized by police during a visit to her family in Yekaterinburg 10 months ago, in January. She was initially held for petty hooliganism, accused of swearing in public but prosecutors quickly upped the charge to treason.

Karelina, 32, had donated $51.80 (£40) to the New York-based charity Razom for Ukraine shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. She had become a US citizen in 2021 but was seized by Russia's FSB security service.

The FSB accused her of collecting money "used to purchase tactical medical supplies, equipment, weapons and ammunition for the Ukrainian Armed Forces."

In August judges found her guilty but gave her leave to appeal her 12-year prison sentence. But the Second Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction for the Sverdlovsk region recently rejected her appeal and confirmed her original sentence.

The footage shows Karelina at the Sverdlovsk Regional Court, in Yekaterinburg earlier this year in June. Now Russian media has said that she will be swapped for Russian prisoners in February after the inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States in January.

According to her father Pavel Karelin, Karelina is currently in pretrial detention centre No. 5 in Yekaterinburg, Russian reports said.

Karelina will be handed over to the American side along with Joseph Thater, who attacked a policeman and renounced his US citizenship, as well as Gordon Black, who was sentenced to three years in prison for stealing and beating his lover in Vladivostok, according to Russian media.

Story: NewsX