(TheRedAlertNews.com) – In a new blatant act of hostility against the United States, Putin’s Russia has arrested an American citizen and charged her with “treason” for allegedly donating money to the military of Ukraine, the US ally that Moscow invaded two years ago, causing the biggest war in Europe since World War II.
Russian authorities have arrested a 33-year-old woman holding dual nationality with the US and Russia on suspicions of engaging in fundraising activities for the Ukrainian military, DNyuz reports.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor of the Soviet KGB, announced on Tuesday that the detainee was a resident of Los Angeles.
The woman was arrested in the Siberian city of Yekaterinburg and faces charges of “treason.”
Her identity has not been revealed by the Russian regime, but the independent Russian-language news platform Mediazona and Politico identified her as Ksenia Karelina.
The database maintained by Russian courts indicates that a judge in Yekaterinburg dismissed an appeal against the pretrial detention of Karelina, who faces accusations of high treason, on February 20.
The Pervy Otdel group, a collective of attorneys specializing in espionage and treason cases, reported that law enforcement initially took Karelina into custody on January 27.
According to court records, she was originally arrested on allegations of using profanity publicly near a cinema.
The report points out that this is a typical approach used by the Russian regime: initially detaining individuals for minor infractions to confiscate their electronic devices.
Starting in March 2023, the FSB has escalated its treason accusations against Russians donating to Ukrainian charitable organizations.
Per the records of Russian courts, since the onset of 2023, the country has witnessed no less than 70 instances of treason charges.
In the previous year, Russian security forces detained Evan Gershkovich, a journalist for the Wall Street Journal, on allegations of espionage on behalf of the US—accusations vehemently refuted by him and his employers.
Gershkovich continues to be held in Russian custody, with Russian leader Vladimir Putin suggesting a potential interest in leveraging him in a prisoner exchange with the US.
Another individual holding Russian-American citizenship, Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor based in Prague with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), was apprehended last October.
American basketball player Brittney Griner experienced a prolonged period of detention in Russia before her return to the United States following a notably prominent prisoner swap in December 2022.
