US ballerina Ksenia Karelina is jailed for 12 years in Russia for high treason after donating $51.80 to a Ukrainian charity

The American ballerina accused of committing treason by donating $51.80 to Ukraine's military has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Ksenia Karelina,33,was today sentenced to 12 years imprisonment in a general regime colony after pleading guilty to 'high treason' charges last week.

Karelina,who was born in Russia and obtained US citizenship after marrying an American and moving to Los Angeles, was arrested in Yekaterinburg in February. She had returned to her original homeland to visit relatives including a grandmother in her 90s.

When she arrived at Koltsovo airport in late January,law enforcement officials checked her cell phone using the search word 'Ukraine'. They allegedly found evidence of a bank transfer to a pro-Ukrainian foundation in America.

She was later detained and charged with treason. Karelina pleaded guilty in her closed trial last week,news reports said.

On her Facebook page,Karelina says that she's from Yekaterinburg and that she studied ballet at the S. P. Diaghilev school

Russia often arrests foreigners on minor charges before accusing them of more serious offences like treason or espionage.

Washington has accused Moscow of arresting its citizens on baseless charges to use them as bargaining chips to secure the release of Russians convicted abroad.

Karelina's sentencing comes just over two weeks after Russia freed US reporter Evan Gershkovich,former US marine Paul Whelan and 14 others in its biggest prisoner swap with the West since the Cold War.

On Wednesday,an American man accused of violence against a Russian law enforcement officer in Moscow was sentenced to 15 days in custody for 'hooliganism'.

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