(CNN)-A US-Russian dual citizen was arrested for allegedly donating just $ 51 for a Ukrainian charity on charges of treason in Russia, said his California employer.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) stated that the captive, a 33 -year -old woman who lives in Los Angeles, was arrested in the Russian city of Yakaterinburgh “was arrested for providing financial assistance to a foreign state in activities against Russia security.”
A video shared by the Russian state media Riya Novosti shows a woman that a hat was drawn on her eyes, rescued by a security officer before a security officer handcuffs and appeared in a court room holding cell.
An American official told CNN that the female Kasenia is Karelina, who became an American citizen in 2021. Karelina entered Russia on 2 January and the US revealed her arrest on 8 February, the official said.
Karelina is accused of donating $ 51.80 to a Ukrainian charity in the US, according to a statement by her employer, a spa at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
“Ciel Spa management and team have been destroyed to share that our beloved Esthetician and friend, Kesenia Karelina, has been incorrectly charged, arrested, and [is] Currently being held in the Russian jail system, ”the statement states.
“A dual citizen, Kesenia, went to Russia to meet his 90-year-old grandmother, parents and younger sister. He has been accused of treason for allegedly donating $ 51.80 for Ukrainian charity in the US. ,
The State Department said on Tuesday that it was known about Karelina’s custody and the US has not been given a consular access to him.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a press briefing, “Russia does not consider dual citizenship, first of the Russian citizens, and therefore we often have difficult times to get consular assistance, but we will pursue it in all cases where an American citizen is detained.”
FSB also accused the US of participating in public functions to support “Kiev rule” while living in the US. “Operations search activities and investigatives continue. The court chose a preventive measure as custody for the accused, ”said this.
Sverdlovsk Regional Court Press Service reported that RIA meant her hearing on Tuesday, but has now been postponed by 29 February due to the absence of a lawyer.
New York-based non-profit razom for Ukraine, organization Karelina allegedly gave money, Said This was “waste” by reports of his detention.
“Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly shown that he does not have any sovereign border, foreign nationality, or international treaty above his own narrow interest,” Razome’s CEO Dora Chomiaq said in a statement posted on social media on Tuesday.
Razom urged the US government to “do everything in its power”, “to demand all unjustly issued by Russia,” Chomiaq said.
He said that Razom is an American-based and funded donation that “our charitable objectives and an American charitable organization conducts activities keeping in mind our legal obligations,” stated that “was focused on human aid, disaster relief, education and advocacy.”
In a post on the Russian social media platform VK in November 2021, Karelina posted a picture of herself, standing between the two American flags and waving a paper flag of her own, as she celebrated to become an American citizen. His VK Profile said he graduated from Ural Federal University in Yakaterinburgh in 2014, and also studied at Maryland University, Baltimore. She was a Balarina.
American citizens detained in Russia
Moscow has detained several American citizens in recent years, and the arrest of the woman came on the same day when Moscow City Court retained the extended pre-trial detention of American journalist Ivan Gorskovich until March 30.
Gorskovich, a reporter from the Wall Street Journal, was arrested in March last year on a charge of espionage in Yakaterinburgh, which he, his employer and the US government was very rejected. When guilty, he faces a prison of up to 20 years.
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently suggested that in 2019, a “compromise could be made” with the US to exchange Gorskovicch for Russian Vadim Krasikov, who sentenced a former Chechen fighter in Berlin to kill life imprisonment in Germany.
Putin said in an interview earlier this month with right -wing American Pandit Tucker Carlson, “I will tell you: Sitting in a country, a country, a country, who is an ally of the United States, is a person who abolished a bandit in one of the European capitals due to patriotism.”
In December 2022, Russia released American basketball star Britney Grinner in a prisoner swap, including Russian weapon dealer Victor Bout. Grinner, who played for years in Russia during the WNBA’s off-season, was detained in February of that year on a Moscow airport on charges of drug smuggling.
Former American Marine Paul Slan was also sentenced to 16 years in jail in June 2020, convicted on espionage charges that he strictly denied.
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