The Russian-American Ksenia Karelina, sentenced to 12 years in prison for “betrayal” in Russia in 2024, was released and went to the United States, according to the United States government, its lawyer specifying that it had been “exchanged.”
“The American Ksenia Karelina is on the plane that takes her back to the United States. She was unfairly stopped by Russia for more than a year and President Trump obtained her release,” said US secretary of state of US Secretary Marco Marco Rubio without mentioning the exchange. Ksenia Karelina’s lawyer, Mikhail Mouchaïlov, confirmed his client’s release to AFP.
The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB), on the other hand, announced in a press release the release of Arthur Petrov Alemán-Ruso in exchange for Ksenia Karelina. The man was arrested in 2023 in Cyprus and extradited the following year in the United States. He was accused by the American justice system of illegally exporting to the Russian territory of electronic components for military use, in violation of sanctions directed to Russia since his attack on Ukraine in 2022.
“On April 10, at the Abu Dhabi International Airport, with the mediation of the United Arab Emirates, a Russian citizen, Arthur Petrov, was returned to the homeland,” he said in the document.
Other next exchanges?
“Yes, Ksenia Karelina was exchanged (…) a few hours ago, she left Abu Dhabi,” said Ksenia Karelina’s lawyer. “Today, President Trump has brought another American citizen mistakenly arrested for Russia,” said the director of the CIA, John Ratcliffe.
With a senior Russian intelligence official, the man would have directed negotiations for this exchange, according to a CIA official cited by the newspaper.
“This exchange shows the importance of maintaining communication with Russia, despite the deep difficulties that weigh in our bilateral relations,” said the CIA spokesman for the US newspaper.
“Although we are disappointed that other Americans are still erroneously detained in Russia, we consider that this exchange is a positive advance and we will continue working for their release.”
Born in 1991, Ksenia Karelina had been sentenced in 2024 to 12 years for having made a donation of fifty dollars to a Ukrainian organization. The Russian court then said that these funds were “used for the purchase of medical equipment, weapons and ammunition by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
Living in California, she had been arrested while visiting her family in Russia and has always rejected the accusations of Russian justice.
Meeting in Istanbul
This exchange of prisoners has been the second since the return to the White House last January for Donald Trump, who stuttered with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a spectacular rappel between the two countries. The two powers have agreed to overcome their bilateral relations, very degraded by years of tensions, which have reached their maximum point since 2022 and the trigger for the Russian assault against Ukraine, with the support of Washington.
There have already been several bilateral meetings and new conversations between Russians and Americans about their diplomatic missions also began this Thursday in Istanbul in the closed line of the Russian Consulate, said an AFP journalist present in front of the building.
For his part, Arthur Petrov, in the dual German and Russian nationality, was accused of US justice of having illegally exported electronic components to Russia for military use in violation of Washington’s sanctions against Moscow linked to the conflict in Ukraine. According to US authorities, Arthur Petrov had a screen company in Chipre, where he was arrested in August 2023 before being extradited to the United States.
Recently found agreements
In mid -February, after the first call between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump from the multimillionaire return to the White House, Kalob Wayne Byers, a 28 -year -old American birth at a Moscow airport for transporting cannabis sweets.
In early February, Washington and Moscow had already exchanged the American teacher Marc Fogel for a Russian IT expert, Alexander Vinnik.
On August 1, 2024, the greatest exchange of prisoners since the end of the Cold War took place between the two rival powers, allowing the particular liberation of journalists, including the reporter of the Wall Street Journal Evan Gershkovich, and the opponents arrested in Russia against the alleged Russian spies arrested in the west. Several Americans remain imprisoned in Russian prisons, Washington denouncing “hostages” to obtain the release of Russians, including alleged spies, imprisoned in the West.
Source: BFM TV
