After $52 Donation Leads to Prison, She's Free Again

Ksenia Karelina was all smiles Thursday as she touched down in the UAE after more than a year in Russian custody. The US-Russian ballerina sentenced to 12 years for treason following a small donation to a US nonprofit offering aid to Ukraine will be even happier now that she's on a plane back to the US. More:

• Big smile: The Emirati foreign ministry posted a photo of Karelina beaming beside Yousef al-Otaiba, the UAE ambassador to the US, at an airport in Abu Dhabi, where she was released Thursday, per People.
• Heading home: "President Trump secured her release," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday on X, noting Karelina, also known as Ksenia Khavana, was "on a plane back home to the United States," per CBS News.
• 'Overjoyed': In a statement, Karelina's fiancé, boxer Chris van Heerden, said he was "overjoyed," per People. "She has endured a nightmare for 15 months and I cannot wait to hold her," he added. He also expressed gratitude to Trump, per the New York Times.

• Arrest: Karelina, a former ballerina who became a US citizen in 2021, had traveled to visit family in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg when she was arrested in February 2024 "amid a spike in Russian detainments of American citizens," per People.
• Donation: She made a $52 donation to a US nonprofit raising money for humanitarian aid to Ukraine on the first day of Russian's full-scale invasion of the country, some two years before her arrest, per the BBC.
• Pardon: Russia's TASS news agency reported Karelina received a pardon from President Vladimir Putin before she was released Thursday.

• Exchange: Russia's intelligence agency confirmed she was swapped for Artur Petrov, a dual Russian-German citizen arrested in Cyprus in 2023, then extradited to the US, where he was convicted of smuggling microelectronics used for weapons for Russia's military.
• US-Russian relations: The deal came as US and Russian diplomats met in Turkey to discuss ways to improve relations. A rep for the CIA says the agency was key in the exchange, which "shows the importance of keeping lines of communication open with Russia, despite the deep challenges in our bilateral relationship," per CBS.

(More Ksenia Karelina stories.)