Ballerina’s jail sentence ‘vindictive cruelty’, says US
The conviction and sentencing of a US-Russian ballerina over a donation to a charity is “nothing less than vindictive cruelty”, White House national security spokesman John Kirby has said.
Ksenia Karelina, 33, was arrested and accused of treason in February after giving £40 to a charity supporting Ukraine.
She was sentenced yesterday to 12 years in a Russian prison after admitting the charge at a closed trial earlier this month.
Mr Kirby said US officials were working to gain consular access to Karelina.
“We’re talking about 50 bucks,” he said. “To call that treason is absolutely ludicrous.”
Karelina, an amateur ballerina, was born in Russia but moved to the US in 2012 and became a citizen in 2021. She had moved to Los Angeles, where she worked in a spa, but was visiting family in Russia when she was arrested.
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