Ksenia Karelina: US-Russian woman jailed for 12 years for $51 charity gift
www.bbc.com
Ksenia Karelina was found guilty of treason in Russia for donating to a charity supporting Ukraine.

A Russian court has sentenced amateur ballerina Ksenia Karelina to 12 years in jail for treason for donating $51 (£39) to a charity supporting Ukraine.

Karelina, who has American and Russian citizenship, pleaded guilty last week after a trial held behind closed doors.

  • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    712·
    3 months ago

    …why would you be a Russian/US dual citizen? I thought both nations were not down with that, particularly with respect to each other, so I doubt it’s even technically legal.

    • VindictiveJudge@lemmy.worldEnglish
      14·
      3 months ago

      Abandoning citizenship usually requires jumping through hoops, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she had to return to Russia to file the paperwork.

      In other instances, though, it’s actually really easy to inherit multiple citizenship, especially if one of those is American. You’re automatically an American citizen if you were born in the US or if either of your parents was an American citizen at the time of your birth. Additionally, anyone born to two Russian parents is automatically a Russian citizen, or if they were born in Russia to at least one Russian parent. So if a Russian couple who went to America after the USSR collapsed but didn’t bother renouncing their citizenship and then had kids, those kids would have both Russian and American citizenship. Alternatively, if an American citizen went to the Russian Federation and had a child with a local, the child would also have dual citizenship.

    • Tja@programming.devEnglish
      243·
      3 months ago

      And if you were, and on top you supported Ukraine, why on earth would you ever find yourself on Russian soil.

      • Cadeillac@lemmy.worldEnglish
        141·
        3 months ago

        The only logical thing I can think of is raising awareness. Donate $50, good on you. Get arrested for donating $50? Now you have peoples attention

        Edit: you say that as if she is stupid. This woman was brave enough to stand up for something she believed in, and didn’t hide while she did it. Good for her. I couldn’t do it

      • JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        1·
        3 months ago

        You can be an American with Russian ancestry, and you can even apply and get US citizenship as a Russian citizen, but Russia doesn’t legally recognise US dual citizenships at all. In fact, they only recognise it with two countries, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan.
        And if an American wanted to get a Russian citizenship, they would be required to renounce their American citizenship first - at least that was the case for a long time, I remember reading there being some work removing that requirement.
        But you would still be seen only as Russian when in Russia.