When Ksenia Karelina, a dual US-Russian citizen, took a trip from Istanbul to Russia in January, she had no idea she’d be arrested weeks later on treason accusations, her boyfriend told in an interview.
According to Chris Van Heerden, Karelina, 33, was pleased to meet her elderly grandparents in her homeland of Yekaterinburg and expressed pride in Russia. “She did not have a worry in the world,” he stated in an OutFront interview with Brianna Keilar.
He said that the resident of Los Angeles had not gone back to Russia in a number of years, which is why he had purchased her a plane ticket since she was experiencing homesickness. The two had travelled to Istanbul for a four-day vacation. She continued on to Russia, and when he came back to California, he learned she had been taken into custody.
He said that initially, her custody was merely temporary. She was freed by Russian officials after they had seized her cell phone, allowing her to view and communicate with her loved ones.
Van Heerden stated that Karelina would find it especially delicate to spend up to 20 times in jail since she was “ so full of life, ” should she be proven shamefaced. Karelina, an esthetician and a “semi-pro ballerina,” never got back to the former boxing champion.
According to the California spa where Karelina worked, she was accused of treason and imprisoned in Yekaterinburg for reportedly giving merely $51 to a Ukrainian charity. She was allegedly “providing financial assistance to a foreign state in activities directed against Russia security,” according to the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia.
Van Heerden said that his girlfriend never mentioned Russia’s two-year invasion of Ukraine and that she was “so proud to be Russian.” “She doesn’t watch the news, she doesn’t intervene with anything,” he claimed.
Van Heerden stated that Karelina would find it especially difficult to spend up to 20 years in jail since she was “so full of life,” should she be proven guilty. Karelina’s lack of legal counsel resulted in the postponement of her case’s Tuesday hearing.
Her partner claimed that attorneys were “fearful to just touch” her case, but they had located one who would only take “an insane amount of money” in exchange for their assistance. Van Heerden stated that despite everything, he hoped the US would not give up on her. “I have faith in America.” I’m clinging to the hope that America will reunite her and bring her back to me,” he remarked.
Retained as a weapon?
Investigative journalist Andrei Soldatov of Russia stated to in response to Karelina’s case that the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia was primarily concerned with “building up a bank of hostages with American passports.”
He declared that Moscow will employ it “as leverage” in any further talks with the country. Karelina’s arrest occurred on the same day that the Moscow City Court affirmed American journalist Evan Gershkovich’s extended pre-trial detention until March 30.
Moscow has been the incarceration site of several US nationals in recent years. The Wall Street Journal writer Gershkovich was detained in Yekaterinburg in March of last year on suspicion of espionage, an allegation he, his employer, and the US government have vehemently disputed. He may spend up to 20 years in jail if found guilty.
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, has stated that “an agreement can be reached” with the US to swap Vadim Krasikov, a Russian who is serving a life sentence in Germany for the 2019 killing of a former Chechen fighter in Berlin, for Gershkovich.
In an interview with right-wing American journalist Tucker Carlson earlier this month, Putin stated, “Listen, I’ll tell you: seated in a single nation, a nation that is an ally of the United States, is a man who, for nationalistic reasons, exterminated a criminal in one of the European capitals
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