Ksenia Karelina, an American citizen detained in Russia, praised President Donald Trump for securing her release from captivity in footage released Friday.
Karelina, a 33-year-old dual citizen of the U.S. and Russia, was convicted of treason and sentenced to 12-years in prison in August 2024 for making a $51 donation to a nonprofit group that sends assistance to Ukraine. After arriving back in the U.S., she said she was “grateful” for Trump’s leadership and that she had “never felt more blessed to be American.”
“Mr. Trump, I’m so, so grateful for you to bring me home and for the American government. I’ve never felt more blessed to be American and I’m so, so happy to get home. Thank you so much,” Karelina said.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Karelina’s release in a Thursday statement and vowed to release all wrongfully detained Americans.
“American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States. She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year and President Trump secured her release. @POTUS will continue to work for the release of ALL Americans,” Rubio said.
The Russian intelligence agency said Karelina was exchanged for Artur Petrov, a Russian and German citizen who had been detained in the U.S. on export control violation charges, The New York Times reported. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which played a key role in the swap, said the exchange had been negotiated by “keeping lines of communication open with Russia” despite challenges.
CIA director John Ratcliffe said in a statement that he was “honored” to greet Karelina upon her return.
“Honored to greet Ksenia Karelina early this morning and help get her returned back home to the United States. Grateful for the @CIA officers who worked to make this success possible! President Trump will continue to work for the release of all wrongfully detained Americans,” Ratcliffe said.
The president also secured the release of Marc Fogel, another Russian detainee arrested in 2021 for marijuana possession, in February. Fogel’s mother, Malphine, criticized former President Joe Biden’s administration for the delay in getting her son released and filed a lawsuit against the Biden State Department in June, which later got dismissed.
George Glezmann, an airline mechanic held hostage by the Taliban, returned to the U.S. in late March after the U.S. State Department negotiated his release. His wife, Aleksandra, had pleaded with the Biden administration to take action on her husband’s behalf and wrote a letter to the then-president, though she had never received confirmation that Biden read her letter, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Like Karelina, both Fogel and Glezmann expressed their gratitude to Trump for successfully returning them home from captivity.
“I feel born again, I’m in debt with the president. President Trump is amazing, you know, thank God he is in the White House where he got me out,” Glezmann said on March 21. “Marco Rubio, Mike Waltz, Adam Boehler. I’m in debt with everybody that was involved in this situation because they got me home.”
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