Russia frees U.S. dual national Ksenia Karelina in prisoner swap arranged by CIA, FSB

Russia released Ksenia Karelina, a dual U.S.-Russian national who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for treason in August last year, in a new prison swap on Thursday. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed her release in a social media post early Thursday, but offered no information about the terms of her release. 

The Wall Street Journal first reported Karelina’s release, saying she was freed in a swap arranged by the two countries’ intelligence agencies, and a CIA official later told CBS News that the agency had played a central role in the deal on behalf of the U.S. government.

“American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States,” Rubio said in his post. “She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year and President Trump secured her release.”

In a statement first published by the Journal and later provided to CBS News, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said, “President Trump brought home another wrongfully detained American from Russia,” and added his praise for “the CIA officers who worked tirelessly to support this effort” and for the United Arab Emirate of Abu Dhabi, which he said had enabled the exchange. The swap of the two detainees was carried out in Abu Dhabi. 

Ratcliffe was directly involved in the negotiations, which he conducted with an unnamed senior Russian intelligence official, the CIA said.  

The top level communication indicates a deepening of efforts by the Trump administration to improve ties with Moscow. Mr. Trump has been pushing both Russia and Ukraine to negotiate a peace agreement to end the three-year war sparked by Russia’s ongoing full-scale invasion of its neighbor.

In exchange for Karelina, who lives in California, the CIA official confirmed that the U.S. had freed Arthur Petrov, a German-Russian national arrested in Cyprus 2023 at the request of U.S. authorities. According to the Journal, he was being held on allegations of exporting sensitive microelectronics.

“Much of the swap was negotiated by the U.S. government, with CIA playing a key role engaging with Russian intelligence,” a CIA spokesperson said Thursday, adding, “The exchange shows the importance of keeping lines of communication open with Russia, despite the deep challenges in our bilateral relationship.”

Karelina was sentenced to 12 years in a Russian penal colony after pleading guilty to treason. She was arrested while on visit to Russia for donating about $51 to an American-based humanitarian group that was helping Ukrainians impacted by the war, according to Russian state media.

Her lawyers said she acknowledged transferring the funds, though she did not admit she intentionally directed them to organizations that might have used the money for actions against Russia. She didn’t expect that her donation would end up supporting anti-Russian activities, according to her lawyers.

Karelina’s boyfriend, Chris Van Heerden, told CBS News last year that she had made the small donation in 2022, “exercising her First Amendment rights,” adding that “she has done nothing wrong.” 

Van Heerden said he was uneasy about Karelina’s decision to return to Russia for a visit, given the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, but he said she “had no worry in the world,” and that she had assured him it would be safe since she was entering the country as a dual American-Russian citizen. 

“She wanted to go home. She made it very clear that she wanted to go home,” Van Heerden told Gayle King on “CBS Mornings.”

Wanting to fulfill her wish to visit home, Van Heerden said he bought her a plane ticket as a birthday gift, and the pair first traveled together to Istanbul. He had originally intended to travel with her to Russia from there, but he didn’t feel comfortable, so she traveled alone to Russia, and he returned to Los Angeles.

Russia imprisoned a number of Americans as tension with Washington soared amid the build up to, and eventually the full-scale war in Ukraine. Paul Whelan, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and teacher Marc Fogel were all designated wrongfully detained like Karelina and freed in previous prisoner swaps with Moscow.

Among the U.S. nationals still jailed in Russia is U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, whose three-year, nine-month prison sentence for robbing and threatening his Russian girlfriend was reduced earlier this week by seven months by a Russian court.  

Robert Gilman, 72, is currently serving a 3 1/2-year sentence in Russia for assaulting a police officer, and Travis Leake, a musician convicted on drug charges, was sentenced to 13 years in prison last summer. 

A Russian court sentenced another 72-year-old American, Stephen Hubbard, to nearly seven years in prison in October for fighting alongside Ukraine’s military.

Joseph Tater, 46, is still waiting for his trial for allegedly assaulting a Russian police officer at a Moscow hotel. He was involuntarily admitted to a psychiatric hospital over the weekend, according to Russian state media.

contributed to this report.