An ex-ballerina, sentenced to 12 years in a Russian prison, has detailed her ‘difficult’ experience following her release in a US-Russia prisoner exchange.
Ksenia Karelina, holding dual US-Russian citizenship, was detained in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in February 2023 on charges of treason.
Authorities discovered that she had donated to a Ukrainian aid charity in February 2022, coinciding with the onset of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
She admitted her actions in a confidential court proceeding and was subsequently sentenced to 12 years in a penal colony.
Fortunately, after spending just over a year incarcerated, Karelina returned to the US through a prisoner swap, arriving in Maryland in April.
Karelina has recently shared her experience in an interview with NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo.
The 33-year-old reflected on how the arrest and subsequent imprisonment impacted her both mentally and physically, though she believes it ‘offered [her] a lot’ as well.
She acknowledged that the experience ‘transformed [her] life’ and is now concentrating on the positives she can extract from it.
“I feel like I just get stronger in my values and believing in kindness and love,” she said. “I strongly believe that this is what is going to help the world to get better. [Love and kindness] is what is going to drag you through the darkest places, darkest times of your life.”
During her time in the penal colony, a facility designed to keep prisoners isolated from the general public, Karelina found support from her boyfriend, Chris Van Heerden, whom she called her ‘biggest supporter’.
“He helped me so much through all this and keep the smile on my face,” she said.
Van Heerden championed Karelina’s release and was there to welcome her when she returned to Maryland in April, describing her ordeal as a ‘nightmare’.
In the recent interview, he emphasized to Cuomo that ‘love wins no matter what’.
“I believe everyone would have done what I did if they were in my position,” he said. “I also don’t want people to forget what she’s been through, she is so strong.”
Karelina concluded: “Thanks to Chris, I have the ability to take things slow, but I would really love to help people get through dark places because it was hard, I went through that, and I now know some tools to get through hard things.”