An American citizen had been released from Russian custody in a rare prisoner swap, officials from the United States and Russia said on Thursday, amid a broader effort by the two nations to mend relations.
The prisoner, Ksenia Karelina, a dual citizen of Russia and the United States, was serving a 12-year sentence in Russia after being convicted of treason for donating about $50 to a nonprofit group that sends assistance to Ukraine.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that Ms. Karelina, 33, was “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,” he wrote on X.
Russia’s intelligence agency, the F.S.B., said in a statement that Ms. Karelina had been released after a presidential pardon in exchange for Arthur Petrov, a citizen of Russia and Germany whom the Justice Department had charged with export control violations.
News of the prisoner swap was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, which said it took place in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates capital.
The exchange was the latest indication that communication between Washington and Moscow was on track even as talks led by the Trump administration about a potential cease-fire in Ukraine appear stalled.
It came as U.S. and Russian diplomats were meeting in Turkey to discuss practical measures to improve relations — like the resumption of direct flights and staffing levels at embassies.
Ms. Karelina’s detention was one in a string of cases that raised fears the Kremlin seeks to use American citizens as bargaining chips to be exchanged for Russians held in the West. An American basketball star, Brittney Griner, and a journalist, Evan Gershkovich, were both freed in high-profile prisoner swaps during the Biden administration.
In February, Russia agreed to release Marc Fogel, an American teacher who was imprisoned in Russia on drug charges. The release of Mr. Fogel — whom the Biden administration had classified as wrongfully detained — was part of a deal with the Kremlin negotiated by Mr. Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.
In exchange, officials said, the United States agreed to release Alexander Vinnik, a Russian who had been convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering. That was seen as an effort to establish good will as the Trump administration sought ways to bring about an agreement to end the war in Ukraine that Russia began more than three years ago.
Ms. Karelina, who lives in Los Angeles, was arrested last year while visiting her grandparents in Yekaterinburg, a city about 850 miles east of Moscow. The charges against her revolved around a one-time donation to Razom for Ukraine, a New York-based nonprofit that sends nonmilitary assistance to the country.
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