The parents of US ballerina Ksenia Karelina have thanked President Trump after she was released from a Russian penal colony following a prisoner exchange with Vladimir Putin’s security service.
Karelina, 34, a Russian-born dancer who worked in a Los Angeles spa, was arrested in her home city of Yekaterinburg in February 2024 after she was accused of collecting donations for the Ukrainian army.
“A big thank you from the bottom of my heart to President Trump and to President Putin, because I guess that deal must have involved them both,” Karelina’s father, Pavel, a 56-year-old service company director, told the Wall Street Journal.
Freed American ballerina Ksenia Karelina, right, has been released from a Russian jail. @aboehler/X
“We are beside ourselves with happiness. The first seconds of our chat were
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