In exchange, the U.S. freed Artur Petrov, a German-Russian dual citizen who was arrested in 2023 in Cyprus at the request of U.S. authorities for allegedly exporting sensitive microelectronics.
“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,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday, adding Trump “will continue to work for the release of ALL Americans.”
According to The Wall Street Journal, which first broke the story, the exchange took place at Abu Dhabi airport as part of a deal brokered by intelligence agencies.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe and a senior Russian intelligence official conducted talks on the swap, the Journal reported citing a CIA official.
Russia’s Federal Security Service confirmed the prisoner exchange later Thursday.
Thursday’s swap marks the second such exchange between Washington and Moscow since Trump took office earlier this year. In February, the U.S. secured the release of Marc Fogel, an American schoolteacher previously detained in Russia on drug charges, in exchange for Russian entrepreneur Alexander Vinnik.
