The State Department confirmed on Thursday the liberation of American-Russian prisoner Ksenia Karelina, who the Russian government had sentenced to 12 years in prison last year on charges of “treason” for donating to a Ukrainian charity.
The administration of President Donald Trump reportedly secured Karelina’s release as part of a prisoner swap deal that also released a Russian national, Artur Petrov, imprisoned in the United States on charges of illegally exporting American microelectronic technology. The release preceded scheduled talks between American representatives and Russian officials in Istanbul, Turkey aimed at improving relations between the two countries which have deteriorated to their worst state since the Cold War under previous President Joe Biden.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed Karelina was “on a plane back home” in the early morning hours on Thursday, emphasizing that Trump “will continue to work for the release of ALL Americans.”
American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States.
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) April 10, 2025
She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year and President Trump secured her release. @POTUS will continue to work for the release of ALL Americans.
Karelina, an America-Russian dual citizen based in Los Angeles who identified as a ballerina, was arrested in Russia in January 2024 after travelling to visit relatives. Karelina reportedly moved to the United States in 2012 and acquired American citizenship just three years before her arrest in Russia. Her family emphasized that, prior to her visit, she did not anticipate having any problems with the government.
Russian authorities, who regularly detain Americans on frivolous grounds to use them for hostage negotiations, initially charged Karelina with “hooliganism” but later imposed the more severe charge of “treason” following the discovery that she had donated $51.80 to Razom — a U.S.-based charity aiding victims of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Razom has focused throughout the war on providing humanitarian aid for civilians on the front lines of the invasion and funding medical efforts in affected areas, as well as advocating for America to support Ukraine’s efforts to resist the invasion at home.
Karelina was ultimately sentenced to 12 years in prison over her donation after pleading guilty of “treason.” The Russian government accused Razom of using her money to fund the Ukrainian military, which allegedly went toward “tactical medicine, equipment, weapons and ammunition.”
The Los Angeles resident was prominently omitted from a major prisoner swap brokered by the Biden administration in August as Karelina was completing her plea proceedings. That month, the Biden administration celebrated the release of four Americans, including three journalists, in exchange for an accused Russian killer, Vadim Krasikov. Moscow released 16 people in that prisoner swap, four of whom are Americans: Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich; Russian-American journalists Alsu Kurmasheva and Vladimir Kara-Muza; and former Marine Paul Whelan.
The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) independently confirmed Karelina’s release on Thursday, as well as the expectation that Petrov would return to Russia imminently. Petrov, both a Russian and German citizen, was reportedly facing up to 20 years in prison. Outside of this confirmation, the Kremlin offered no additional comment.
The prisoner swap appeared to be a gesture of goodwill timed prior to the scheduled meeting on Thursday between Russian and American officials in Istanbul. These talks, the State Department explained on Wednesday, are part of a greater framework of diplomacy linked to but not directly addressing the Ukraine invasion and intended to rehabilitate relations between Moscow and Washington.
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters on Wednesday that the talks seek to “make progress on further stabilizing the operations of our bilateral missions” and would not directly address Ukraine.
“There are no political or security issues on the agenda, and Ukraine is not — absolutely not — on the agenda,” Bruce emphasized. “These talks are solely focused on our embassy operations, not on normalizing a bilateral relationship overall, which can only happen, as we’ve noted, once there is peace between Russia and Ukraine.”
Bruce stated that President Trump did consider resolving the Ukraine war a continued priority, however, and was “committed to finding and demanding the return of the missing or stolen Ukrainian children from Russia.”
Top Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov similarly told reporters during a briefing on Thursday, “the talks between the [Russian] Foreign Ministry and the US Department of State are solely discussing issues of normalizing bilateral relations.”
“These talks are not discussing resolving the Ukraine crisis,” he added.
Prior to the meeting on Thursday this week, Russian Ambassador to Washington Alexander Darchiev told reporters that the goal of the Istanbul talks was to begin “getting rid of the toxic legacy of the previous U.S. administration, which set strict limits on the activities of Russian diplomatic missions.” Communication between Russia and America dropped dramatically during the Biden administration, which eschewed diplomacy in alleged solidarity with Ukraine.
The Moscow Times, citing the Russian state news agency Tass, said that anonymous Russian sources expected the talks on Thursday to last “several hours” and that the environment around the talks was “positive.”
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