Russia seeks 15-year prison sentence for Russian-American Ksenia Karelina

Russian prosecutors are seeking a 15-year sentence for Russian-American aesthetician Ksenia Karelina, who pleaded guilty to treason after she was arrested for donating $51 to an American-based humanitarian group helping Ukrainians who suffered in the war, according to Russian state media.

Russia accuses Karelina of collecting money used to purchase supplies for the Ukrainian army.

Karelina was detained in January when she traveled from the U.S. to Russia to visit family. Her former mother-in-law, Eleonora Srebroski, said she had been given a plane ticket as a gift by her boyfriend to fly back to see her parents and younger sister in the eastern city of Yekaterinburg.

Srebroski told CBS News that Karelina had assured her boyfriend at the time it was safe for her to visit Russia and he had no reason to worry about her.

Karelina was initially detained by Russia’s Federal Security Service on charges of “petty hooliganism,” but the charge was later upgraded to treason.

Karelina’s trial is being overseen by the judge that saw Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Her lawyer called the prosecutor’s request for a 15-year sentence “harsh” and said he would “take all legally significant actions” to try to have his client included in a future prisoner exchange.

“After the verdict, of course, we will work in this direction,” Karelina’s lawyer said. “This is the client’s desire, so I will take all legally significant actions to ensure that this is carried out.”

Evan Gershkovich was freed as part of a prisoner swap earlier this month.