MOSCOW (NewsNation) — The trial of a dual Russian-American citizen whom Russia accuses of treason has opened.
Ksenia Karelina’s closed-door trial began Thursday, and the next session was set for Aug. 7, Russian news agencies said.
Russia’s Federal Security Service claims the 33-year-old raised money for a Ukrainian organization that was providing weapons, ammunition and other supplies to the Ukrainian military.
Chris Van Heerden, Karelina’s boyfriend, told NewsNation that she was collecting funds for humanitarian aid and had donated to Razom for Ukraine, a U.S.-based nonprofit that says it provides medical kits and disaster relief to those affected by Russia’s invasion of the country.
Additionally, Isabella Koretz, Karelina’s boss, said Karelina donated about $50 for humanitarian causes and disaster relief.
Karelina, who was born in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg but lives in Los Angeles, faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Almost all Russian criminal cases that make it to court end in convictions, the Associated Press reported.
Karelina’s trial will be held in Yekaterinburg, the same court set to begin hearing the case of Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter arrested for alleged espionage in March 2023, next week.
Gershkovich is accused of gathering secret information from a tank factory in Nizhny Tagil, about 90 miles north of Yekaterinburg. His employers deny the allegation, and the U.S. State Department has declared him to be wrongfully detained.
Gershkovich’s trial, also closed, is to begin next Wednesday.
NewsNation’s digital producer Liz Jassin and the Associated Press contributed to this report.