L.A. woman sentenced to 12 years in Russian prison for $50 Ukraine donation

globalnews.ca:

A dual U.S.-Russian citizen has been sentenced to 12 years in a Russian prison for treason after authorities learned she donated just over $50 to a charity supporting Ukraine.

Ksenia Khavana, 33, sometimes identified by her maiden name of Ksenia Karelina, was arrested in February after travelling to Russia to visit her family. Khavana, a former ballerina, lives in Los Angeles and works at a Beverly Hills spa.

Her closed-door trial took place in Yekaterinburg, a city in the Ural Mountains, before the same court and judge that convicted Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich of espionage. Gershkovich was released from prison early this month as part of a prisoner exchange between Russia and the U.S.

Russia’s Federal Security Service said the US$51.80 that Khavana donated was used to buy weapons deployed against Russia. She “proactively collected money in the interests of one of the Ukrainian organizations, which was subsequently used to purchase tactical medical supplies, equipment, weapons, and ammunition for the Ukrainian armed forces,” the agency said.

Meanwhile, Khavana’s supporters say she donated money to Razom for Ukraine, a U.S.-based charity that provides humanitarian relief to people in Ukraine. The charity denies it provides any military support to Kyiv, writing in a release that it is “focused on humanitarian aid, disaster relief, education and advocacy.”

During the trial, Khavana “admitted guilt in part,” her lawyer Mikhail Mushailov said. She admitted to donating the money but maintains that it was not her intent to transfer funds to “be used for anti-Russian actions.”

Her lawyer says he plans to appeal the verdict.

In a televised interview with CBS, Khavana’s boyfriend Chris van Heerden expressed his