Yekaterinburg, Russia - US-Russian citizen Ksenia Karelina was sentenced to 12 years in prison for "treason" by a Russian court on Thursday, after allegedly donating a little over $50 to a pro-Ukraine charity.

Karelina, a 32-year-old ballet dancer and spa worker living and working in Los Angeles, was detained by police in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg in late January while visiting family.

"The court found Ksenia Karelina guilty of high treason and sentenced her to 12 years' imprisonment in a general regime colony," the Sverdlovsk Regional Court in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg said.

She donated $51.80 to New York-based charity Razom for Ukraine shortly after Russia launched its full-scale military offensive in February 2022.

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Russia's FSB security service accused her of collecting money that was "used to purchase tactical medical supplies, equipment, weapons, and ammunition for the Ukrainian armed forces."

She pleaded guilty to the charges at a hearing last week, state media reported.

Washington has accused Moscow of arresting its citizens on baseless charges to use them as bargaining chips to secure the release of Russians convicted abroad.

Karelina's sentencing comes just over two weeks after Russia freed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former US Marine Paul Whelan, and 14 others in its biggest prisoner swap with the West since the Cold War.

But on Wednesday, a US man accused of violence against a Russian law enforcement officer in Moscow was sentenced to 15 days in custody for "hooliganism."