{"id":279489,"date":"2025-04-11T10:16:10","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T10:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/11\/ksenia-karelina-hugs-and-smiles-as-ballerina-jailed-in-russia-arrives-home-in-us-after-prisoner-exchange\/"},"modified":"2025-04-11T10:16:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T10:16:10","slug":"ksenia-karelina-hugs-and-smiles-as-ballerina-jailed-in-russia-arrives-home-in-us-after-prisoner-exchange","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/11\/ksenia-karelina-hugs-and-smiles-as-ballerina-jailed-in-russia-arrives-home-in-us-after-prisoner-exchange\/","title":{"rendered":"Ksenia Karelina: Hugs and smiles as ballerina jailed in Russia arrives home in US after prisoner exchange"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ksenia<\/div>


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A former ballerina who spent more than a year in a Russian jail for donating \u00a340 to a charity supporting Ukraine has returned home to the US after being freed in a prisoner exchange.<\/p>\n

Ksenia Karelina landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland at around 11pm, local time, on Thursday.<\/p>\n

A smiling Ms Karelina was greeted on the runway by her fiance, the professional boxer Chris van Heerden, and given flowers by Morgan Ortagus, President Donald Trump’s<\/strong><\/a> deputy special envoy to the Middle East.<\/p>\n

China hits back in US tariffs row – latest<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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\n Ksenia Karelina arrives at Joint Base Andrews. Pic: AP
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Van Heerden said in a statement he was “overjoyed to hear that the love of my life, Ksenia Karelina, is on her way home from wrongful detention in Russia<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

“She has endured a nightmare for 15 months and I cannot wait to hold her. Our dog, Boots, is also eagerly awaiting her return.”<\/p>\n

He thanked Mr Trump and his envoys, as well as prominent public figures who had championed her case, including Dana White, a friend of Mr Trump and CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).<\/p>\n

Ms Karelina, 34, a US-Russian citizen also identified as Ksenia Khavana, was accused of treason when she was arrested<\/a><\/strong> in Yekaterinburg, in southwestern Russia, while visiting family in February last year.<\/p>\n

Investigators searched her mobile phone and found she made a $51.80 (\u00a340) donation to Razom, a charity that provides aid to Ukraine<\/strong><\/a>, on the first day of Russia’s invasion in 2022.<\/p>\n

She admitted the charge at a closed trial in the city in August last year and was later jailed for 12 years, to be served in a penal colony.<\/p>\n

At a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Mr Trump, who wants to normalise relations with Moscow, said the Kremlin “released the young ballerina<\/strong><\/a> and she is now out, and that was good. So we appreciate that”.<\/p>\n

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\n \"Ksenia\n <\/div>
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\n Ksenia Karelina is hugged by her boyfriend, Chris van Heerden. Pic: Reuters
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He said the release followed conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Russian security services accused her of “proactively” collecting money for a Ukrainian organisation that was supplying gear to Kyiv’s forces.<\/p>\n

The First Department, a Russian rights group, said the charges stemmed from a $51.80 donation to a US charity aiding Ukraine.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Washington, which had called her case “absolutely ludicrous”, released Arthur Petrov, who it was holding on charges of smuggling sensitive microelectronics to Russia, in the prisoner swap in Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/strong>
Children die in helicopter crash<\/strong><\/a>
Wolf of Wall St defends Trump<\/strong><\/a>
23C possible in UK on Friday<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Karelina was among a growing number of Americans arrested in Russia in recent years as tensions between Moscow and Washington spiked over the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Her release is the latest in a series of high-profile prisoner exchanges Russia and the US carried out in the last three years – and the second since Mr Trump took office.<\/p>\n

White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said members of the Trump administration “continue to work around the clock to ensure Americans detained abroad are returned home to their families”.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former ballerina who spent more than a year in a Russian jail for donating \u00a340 to a charity supporting Ukraine has returned home to the US after being freed in a prisoner exchange. Ksenia Karelina landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland at around 11pm, local time, on Thursday. A smiling Ms Karelina was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279490,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/25\/04\/768x432\/skynews-ksenia-karelina-joint-base-andrews_6882641.jpg?20250411094748","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3160,87632,3907,148,15309,4267,91157,91156,16557,202,41275],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279489"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279489"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":279491,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279489\/revisions\/279491"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}