Russia Sentences U.S. Citizen to 12 Years Over $52

Ksenia Karelina is accused of donating $52 to a New York-based nonprofit that sends assistance to Ukraine.

A court in Russia sentenced a dual citizen of Russia and the United States on Thursday to 12 years in prison on accusations that she committed treason by donating money — about $50 — for Ukraine’s armed forces.

The court, in the city of Yekaterinburg, claimed to have found that the funds donated by the woman, Ksenia Karelina, 32, “were subsequently used to purchase tactical medicine, equipment, weapons and ammunition” for Ukraine.

The prosecution nearly always gets its way in treason cases in Russia’s stage-managed judicial system, but her lawyer, Mikhail Mushailov, said he would still appeal to try to get her sentence reduced.

“I was not surprised by the prison sentence or the way the trial was conducted,” Mr. Mushailov said by telephone from Yekaterinburg.

Russian investigators accused Ms. Karelina of donating $52 to Razom for Ukraine, a New York-based nonprofit that sends assistance to Ukraine, according to Perviy Otdel, a group of Russian lawyers who specialize in cases involving accusations of treason and other politically charged issues.