US and Russia complete prisoner exchange

Russia and the United States exchange prisoners, the second such swap since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House as the two superpowers push for closer ties.

Moscow releases US-Russian ballet dancer and spa worker Ksenia Karelina, who was sentenced Russia to 12 years on treason charges, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says.

In exchange, the United States releases Arthur Petrov, says Russian state media, citing the FSB security service. The Russian-German citizen had been facing up to 20 years in a US jail for violating export controls.

“American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States. She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year,” Rubio writes on social media platform X, adding that Trump “will continue to work for the release of ALL Americans.”

Karelina’s lawyer, Mikhail Mushailov, tells AFP that “the exchange took place in Abu Dhabi and, as of a couple of hours ago, she was already flying out of Abu Dhabi.”

The Wall Street Journal reports that, in exchange, the United States released Petrov, a German-Russian citizen who was arrested in Cyprus in 2023 at Washington’s request for allegedly exporting sensitive microelectronics.