Russian court sentences American Ksenia Karelina, former ballerina, to 12 years for treason

(LONDON) — Ksenia Karelina, a dual American-Russian citizen, was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in a Russian penal colony on treason charges, local media reported.

Karelina was arrested in January, according to Russian state media and the court. She plans to appeal the verdict, her lawyer told ABC News on Thursday.

The prosecution had sought a 15-year prison sentence after Karelina entered a guilty plea, according to the court. The prosecution had also asked for a two-year probation period and a fine of 500,000 Russian rubles, or about $5,600, according to the court.

A former ballerina who lives in California, Karelina holds both U.S. and Russian citizenship. She was jailed for allegedly organizing fundraisers for Ukraine’s military, attending pro-Ukraine rallies and posting messages against Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to Russian state media. Karelina also goes by Khavana.

Her boyfriend, Chris Van Heerden, spoke to ABC News Live hours after her sentencing, saying she did nothing wrong. He said all she did was donate $50 to a Ukrainian charity.

“I’m bleeding, I’m bleeding. My Ksenia is harmless. She’s a sweetheart,” he said. “She does not belong there. Ksenia is very proud to be American. And I’m bleeding to the American government bring her back because she believes in you. Do not disappoint her.”

The Sverdlovsk Regional Court had earlier extended her pretrial detention in a jail in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

Investigators accused her of committing a crime under Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. She was charged under that code with “high treason.”

At a State Department briefing Thursday, deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said that despite the Biden administration’s objections to Karelina’s detention and now her sentencing, she has still not been declared wrongfully detained.

“We’ve not made any formal determination,” he said, adding the steps for determining a wrongful detention designation were part of a “separate deliberative process.”

Mikhail Mushailov, a lawyer for Karelina, told ABC News at the time of her guilty plea that after the verdict he would seek her exchange, a move that Karelina had asked for.

The U.S. State Department was asked earlier this month about Karelina and other dual American citizens who were being held aboard. The question came as former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist, were brought back to the United States through a mutlicountry prisoner swap.

The U.S.’s message for those who were still detained was “pretty simple,” Patel told reporters during a press briefing. He added that “while today is a good day, that the work doesn’t stop.”

“And to the American citizens who continue to be wrongfully detained or held hostage around the world, let me just be very clear that this government, this administration, is not going to stop working,” Patel said.

ABC News’ Joe Simonetti, Will Gretsky and Shannon K. Kingston contributed to this report.

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