Arrest US dual national held charity for $51 gift to Ukraine

The White House has said it is seeking information after Russia said it had arrested a dual US-Russian citizen on treason charges, accusing her of collecting funds for Ukrainian organisations and openly opposing the Russian war in Ukraine.

- Andrew Roth

A Russian legal NGO said the woman, named by Russian media as Ksenia Khavana, a ballerina, may stand accused of transferring $51 (£40) to a Ukrainian charity in February 2022, on the day that Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of the country. She now faces up to 20 years in prison.

Russia's FSB yesterday reported that it had detained a 33-year-old woman who lives in Los Angeles and held dual citizenship. Reports said she had attended the Ural Federal University in Yekaterinburg and later married an American citizen and moved to the US.

Photographs from social media showed Khavana smiling, flanked by two American flags, as she held her US naturalisation documents.

Asked about the case yesterday, a US national security spokesperson, John Kirby, reiterated warnings about US citizens travelling to Russia.

News of the arrest comes among a series of other reports yesterday of a Russian crackdown on perceived threats from abroad.