Moscow has released a US-Russian dual national, Ksenia Karelina, who had been detained in Russia, in a prisoner swap in Abu Dhabi.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, wrote on X: “American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States. She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year and President Trump secured her release.”
He added that Trump would “continue to work for the release of ALL Americans”.
Karelina, a beautician and former ballet dancer who lives in Los Angeles, was also identified in Russian media reports as Ksenia Khavana.
She was arrested in Ekaterinburg in February last year and sentenced in August to 12 years in prison on a treason conviction for allegedly raising money for the Ukrainian military.
A rights group said the charges stemmed from a $51 (£40) donation to Razom, a US charity that sends non-lethal aid to Ukraine.
In exchange for Karelina, the US reportedly freed Arthur Petrov, a dual German-Russian citizen, who was arrested in 2023 in Cyprus at the request of the US. Petrov had been accused of exporting sensitive microelectronics to Russia.
The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the swap, said the deal had been negotiated by the CIA director, John Ratcliffe, and an unidentified senior Russian intelligence official.
“Today, President Trump brought home another wrongfully detained American from Russia,” the WSJ quoted Ratcliffe as saying. “I’m proud of the CIA officers who worked tirelessly to support this effort, and we appreciate the government of UAE for enabling the exchange.”
Ratcliffe has spoken to the head of the Federal State Security Service (FSB), Alexander Bortnikov, and the director of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Sergei Naryshkin, in recent months.
“Petrov was exchanged for US citizen Ksenia Karelina, who also holds Russian citizenship and was sentenced to 12 years in a penal colony for treason in the form of financial assistance to a foreign state,” the FSB said in a statement.
“We express our gratitude to the UAE leadership for their assistance,.”
Karelina’s lawyer, Mikhail Mushailov, said on Instagram that she was flying to the US from Abu Dhabi, where the exchange took place.
Abu Dhabi was the scene of a previous high-profile prisoner swap between Russia and the United States in December 2022, when the US basketball star Brittney Griner was exchanged for the Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
The UAE has been a mediator in prisoner swaps between Russia and Ukraine, while Dubai has become home to many Russians and Ukrainians who have fled there since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Agencies contributed to this report
