EGN NEWS DESK
Russia’s major safety company mentioned on Tuesday that it had arrested a twin citizen of Russia and the United States on accusations of committing state treason by elevating funds for Ukraine.
The Federal Security Service, often called the F.S.B., recognized the detainee as a 33-year-old lady who lives in Los Angeles. It mentioned in a press release that she had raised cash for a Ukrainian group that purchased weapons and different tools for Ukraine’s navy.
Perviy Otdel, a bunch of Russian legal professionals who focus on circumstances involving accusations of treason and different politically charged allegations, mentioned that the girl had been accused of treason for sending simply over $50 to Razom for Ukraine, a New York-based nonprofit group that sends help to the nation.
The Russian information outlet Media Zona recognized her as Ksenia Karelina. Perviy Otdel recognized her as Ksenia (Karelina) Khavana, with Karelina seemingly being her maiden identify.
The F.S.B. mentioned that the girl had been arrested within the metropolis of Yekaterinburg in central Russia. RIA Novosti, a Russian state information company, revealed a video that it mentioned confirmed the girl, carrying a white hat that coated her eyes, being handcuffed and escorted by masked safety service officers.
If convicted, she might withstand 20 years in jail.
The detention of American residents on Russian soil lately has raised suspicions that the Kremlin views them as invaluable property to be traded for high-profile Russians held in custody within the United States and different Western nations.
On the identical day that the girl’s arrest was introduced, a Moscow court docket rejected an enchantment by Evan Gershkovich, an American reporter for The Wall Street Journal whom Russia arrested final spring on an espionage cost, to carry his pretrial detention. It dominated that Mr. Gershkovich — who, alongside along with his employer and the American authorities, has denied the cost in opposition to him — should keep in jail a minimum of till the top of March.
The variety of state treason circumstances in Russia has been rising steadily since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. Last yr, about 50 individuals had been accused of the offense, based on Perviy Otdel, starting from high-profile critics of the Kremlin to a pupil accused of photographing Russian Army formations in his city.
A court docket in Yekaterinburg was scheduled to listen to an enchantment by the newly arrested lady on Tuesday, based on the court docket’s web site, which additionally mentioned that she was accused of treason.
According to Ms. Karelina’s profile on VK, a Russian social community, she obtained United States citizenship in 2021. Her profile, which additionally recognized her as a pupil on the University of Maryland in Baltimore, mentioned that she had graduated from Urals Federal University in Yekaterinburg in 2014.
Perviy Otdel mentioned that the girl was arrested on the finish of January and accused of treason on Feb. 7.
