The Federal Security Service (F.S.B.) identified the detainee as a 33-year-old woman who lives in Los Angeles, the New York Times reports.
The F.S.B. said in a statement that she had raised money for a Ukrainian organization that bought weapons and other equipment for Ukraine’s military.
The Russian news outlet Media Zona identified her as Ksenia Karelina. She is reportedly 33-years-old and a resident of Los Angeles.
Karelina had gone to Yekaterinburg to visit her parents, which was a bad idea from the start. Karelina is a dual US-Russia citizen, so the treason law applies and could net her 20 years in prison. One has to wonder, though, whether the FSB and Putin are just adding to their hostage inventory as leverage to wring more concessions out of Joe Biden. Or maybe they really want to hold onto Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich and hope that Americans will make Karelina their main objective in a swap instead.
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