Russian-American Ksenia Karelina was sentenced by a Russian court to 12 years in a penal colony on Thursday after pleading guilty to treason earlier this month. She was arrested earlier this year while on a trip to Russia for donating $51 to an American-based humanitarian group helping Ukrainians suffering in the war, according to Russian state media.
Karelina’s lawyer, Mikhail Mushailov, said shortly after the sentence was handed down that Karelina would appeal.
“She admitted guilt in terms of transferring funds, but did not admit her intent aimed at transferring funds to those organizations where they most likely arrived,” Mushailov said. “She did not assume that the funds she transferred would be used for anti-Russian actions.”
Russia accused Karelina of collecting money used to purchase supplies for the Ukrainian army. She was detained in January when she was given a plane ticket as a gift by her boyfriend to fly back to see her parents and younger sister in the eastern city of Yekaterinburg, according to her former mother-in-law, Eleonora Srebroski.
Karelina was initially detained by Russia’s Federal Security Service for “petty hooliganism,” but the charge was later upgraded to treason.
The court on Thursday said the sentence would come into effect in 15 days “unless appealed by the parties.”
Ahead of the sentencing, Karelina’s lawyer called the prosecutor’s earlier request for a 15-year sentence “harsh” and said he would “take all legally significant actions” to try to have his client included in a future prisoner exchange. He said Karelina fully cooperated with the investigation.
On Thursday, Mushailov said he plans to perform “all legally significant actions to start the exchange procedure and finish it as soon as possible.”
Karelina’s trial was overseen by the same judge who saw Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich sentenced to 16 years in prison. Gershkovich was freed as part of a prisoner swap earlier this month.
