Officials accuse 33-year-old woman from Los Angeles of trying to help Ukraine’s army, reports say
Russia arrests dual US-Russian citizen for allegedly trying to raise funds for Ukraine’s military
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced Tuesday it arrested a woman holding Russian and U.S. citizenship on suspicion of treason, accusing her of raising funds for the Ukrainian army as the two-year anniversary of Moscow’s invasion approaches.
The agency, one of the successors to the Soviet-era KGB, identified her only as a 33-year-old resident of Los Angeles.
Independent Russian outlet Mediazona said it had identified the woman as Ksenia Karelina, though other outlets have identified her as Ksenia (Karelina) Khavana, where Karelina is likely a maiden name.
The woman had provided financial assistance to a foreign country working against Russia’s security interests since February 2022, the FSB said, including raising funds for a Ukrainian organization that were used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to buy tactical medical supplies, equipment, weapons and ammunition.
The woman also took part in public activities supporting the “Kyiv regime,” the FSB said, without specifying details.
A video published by the agency shows the woman, whose face was obscured with a pulled-down white hat, being arrested, handcuffed and escorted to a car by an FSB security agency.
Russian officials have revealed little.
The Financial Times, citing Khavana’s lawyer and social media accounts, said she studied in Yekaterinburg before moving to the U.S., where she became a citizen in 2021 and had worked as a spa manager in Beverly Hills.
News reports indicate the woman was first arrested in late January and charged with violating public order, with the treason charge coming this month. The practice is common in criminal cases like this in Russia.
Officials have also revealed little information supporting the charge of treason or detailed the organization Karelina supposedly worked with.
Treason, which includes espionage and providing support or intelligence to an entity working against the security interests of the Russian state, is a serious offense in Russia and punishable with a jail term of up to 20 years.
New rules appear to allow for lifelong sentences for treason in some cases.
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