A dual Russian-American national, Ksenia Karelina, has been released as part of a prisoner exchange agreement between the United States and Russia, marking a significant diplomatic development between the two countries.

Karelina, an amateur ballerina residing in Los Angeles, had been detained in Russia since early 2024 after being arrested during a visit to her family in Yekaterinburg. Russian authorities charged her with financially supporting a Ukrainian organization allegedly involved in supplying arms to the Ukrainian military. She pleaded guilty in August 2024 and was subsequently sentenced to 12 years in prison.

According to Russian human rights groups, the accusation centered on a single donation of $51 made by Karelina on February 22, 2022, the day Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The organization that received the funds has publicly denied any involvement in arms distribution, stating that its mission is focused solely on providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief. It is believed that Russia’s FSB security service uncovered the donation through data found on her phone.

In return for Karelina’s release, the United States released Arthur Petrov, a dual citizen of Germany and Russia. Petrov was apprehended in Cyprus in 2023 and later extradited to the U.S., where he faced charges related to the illegal export of microelectronics to Russian entities reportedly linked to the country’s defense sector.

Russian state media outlet TASS reported that President Vladimir Putin issued a pardon for Karelina. The prisoner swap occurred in Abu Dhabi during the early hours of Thursday.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that Karelina is en route back to the United States, describing her imprisonment as a case of wrongful detention. He credited President Trump for securing her release and emphasized the administration’s continued commitment to advocating for all Americans held abroad.

According to The Wall Street Journal, CIA Director John Ratcliffe was present during the exchange.

This marks the second such exchange between the two nations in recent weeks. In February, Russian citizen Alexander Vinnik, who had been serving a sentence in the U.S. for money laundering, was released in return for American schoolteacher Marc Fogel.

The exchange coincides with ongoing diplomatic talks between Washington and Moscow, including a scheduled meeting in Istanbul aimed at restoring embassy functions that were curtailed following the onset of the war in Ukraine.