Moscow/Dubai: Moscow freed a Russian American convicted of treason in exchange for a Russian German man jailed on smuggling charges in the US, a prisoner swap that was completed Thursday as the two countries met to repair ties.
Ksenia Karelina is “on a plane back home to the United States,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on social media platform X.
Karelina was arrested in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg in February 2024 and convicted of treason on charges stemming from a donation of about USD 52 to a charity aiding Ukraine. US authorities have called the case “absolutely ludicrous.”
Arthur Petrov was released as part of a swap in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, according to the Federal Security Service, or FSB, Russia’s main security and counterintelligence agency.
Petrov was arrested in Cyprus in August 2023 at the request of the US on charges of smuggling sensitive microelectronics to Russia and extradited to the US a year later.
Karelina was among a growing number of Americans arrested in Russia. Agencies