The Wall Street Journal reports that on Thursday, CIA Director John Ratcliffe revealed that a prisoner exchange between Russia and the United States occurred in Abu Dhabi.
The exchange saw Russia freeing Ksenia Karelina, a dual U.S.-Russian national who was sentenced to 12 years in a penal colony last year, in return for the U.S. freeing Arthur Petrov, a dual German-Russian citizen arrested in Cyprus in 2023, The Wall Street Journal announced.
Ksenia Karelina was detained by police in Yekaterinburg in late January 2024 while on a trip to visit her family in Russia. Prosecutors accuse her of "proactively transferring funds to a Ukrainian organization, which the Ukrainian Armed Forces subsequently used to purchase tactical medicine, equipment, weapons and ammunition." On August 15, 2024 Ksenia Karelina was sentenced to 12 years in prison for "treason".
She donated $51.80 to New York-based charity 'Razom for Ukraine' shortly after Russia launched its full-scale military offensive in February 2022, a Russian rights group and US media outlets reported.
Ksenia Karelina's lawyer has already confirmed her release as part of prisoner swap.
