Treason charges after $50 for Ukraine: desperate battle to free LA ballerina held in Russia
Treason charges after $50 for Ukraine: desperate battle to free LA ballerina held in Russia
Ksenia Karelina faces life in prison over what boyfriend says stems from charity donation – and he’s calling on the US to help
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
The amateur ballerina Ksenia Karelina, an American and Russian dual citizen who celebrated the new year with a trip to Istanbul with her partner Chris van Heerden, a South African professional boxer, before heading to Russia to visit family, was arrested and detained by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) on 28 January in her hometown of Yekaterinburg, about 1,100 miles east of Moscow.
Karelina may be the latest victim in a chess match over detainees between the US and Russia, which dates back more than 15 years when, in 2008, the US Drug Enforcement Administration arrested Viktor Bout, a former Soviet military officer and translator, on conspiracy charges.
Bout was eventually traded in 2022 for the WNBA champion Brittney Griner, who Russian officials had arrested for possessing vaporizer cartridges containing less than a gram of hash oil.
In March last year, Russian officials arrested the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in the same place as Karelina, Yekaterinburg.
Russian authorities later upped the ante, charging Karelina, a licensed esthetician employed by Ciel spa in Beverly Hills, with more serious offenses.
Right before the court date, Russian state media released a video of a woman who appears to be Karelina wearing a white puffer coat and a knit cap pulled over her eyes being handcuffed and led around a detention center.
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amateur ballerina Ksenia Karelina, an American and Russian dual citizen who celebrated the new year with a trip to Istanbul with her partner Chris van Heerden, a South African professional boxer, before heading to Russia to visit family
No way this is real. Definitely the premise for a sitcom, possibly a limited series dramedy.
Not that much. Expats tend to drift together. I'm a shut-in and have friends all over the world.
I was actually exaggerating my disbelief for comedic effect lol, sorry for being unclear about it. I am in fact in pretty much the same boat as you lol.
Still think it would make for a good TV premise, though 😁