Ksenia Karelina, a dual citizen of the United States and Russia, has been released from a Russian prison as part of a prisoner exchange between the two countries.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that Karelina was currently on a flight back to the United States, BBC reported.
She was arrested in February 2024 while visiting her family in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Russian authorities accused her of treason for donating about $52 to a charity that supported Ukraine.
She was later convicted, and U.S. officials strongly condemned the case, calling it politically motivated and unjust.
Karelina, a former ballet dancer, had moved to Los Angeles after marrying an American and becoming a U.S. citizen. Russia's Federal Security Service claimed her donation helped fund medical supplies and military equipment for Ukrainian forces, Sky News reported.
The identity of the person exchanged by the U.S. has not yet been revealed.
