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.

  • kenkenken@fedia.io
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    1 year ago

    It’s not much about the donation. Actually Russia now are hunting for people with American and European citizenship for future swaps.

  • mysticpickle@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Great. Can we stop trading for idiots that willingly go to Russia already? I’m pretty sure our supply of captured Russian arms dealers and assassins is running pretty low by now.

  • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year 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.

    • Tja@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

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

      • Cadeillac@lemmy.world
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        1 year 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

    • VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world
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      1 year 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.

      • Cadeillac@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        return to Russia

        There could be numerous reasons for her to want to return to or be in Russia. Family is the first thing to come to mind

        • GiveMemes@jlai.lu
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          1 year ago

          Well yeah, if you don’t you still have to pay income tax, regardless of your nation of residence.