American ballerina detained in Russia for donating $51 to Ukrainian charity is ... trends now
The American ballerina being detained in Russia for donating $51 to a Ukrainian charity revealed she is being deprived of basic hygiene and is too afraid to go outside for fresh air.
In a recent letter to her boyfriend, Ksenia Karelina said she is only allowed to shower once a week and has decided to skip going outside because the guards are known to lock inmates out and leave them on the freezing roof of the arctic jail.
Her boyfriend, Chis Van Heerdan, told Fox & Friends Karelina has no access to hot water, is forced to sleep with the lights on and has a strict 6am wake-up call and 10pm bedtime.
'It’s a day-by day thing. One day she wakes up very hopeful and very positive, and then other days there is no hope,' her boyfriend said.
He added Karelina also has days where she fears that she might be stuck in the Russian prison for the rest of her life.
Ksenia Kalerina, the American ballerina that is being detained in Russia for donating $51 to a Ukrainian charity revealed that she is being depraved of basic hygiene and is too afraid to go outside for fresh air
In a recent letter to her boyfriend ,Karelina said that she is only allowed to shower once a week and has decided not to go outside on the roof because the guards are known to lock inmates out and leave them in the freezing weather
Karelina, who holds dual Russian-American citizenship, was charged with treason and faces up to 20 years in jail for making the small donation to the humanitarian charity Razom on the day Russia invaded Ukraine
Karelina, who holds dual Russian-American citizenship, was charged with treason and faces up to 20 years in jail for making the small donation to the humanitarian charity Razom on the day Russia invaded Ukraine.
As the couple tries to hold onto hope, her boyfriend said that Karelina mentioned in her letter that through the small window in her cell, she feels connected to him.
'I've got a little window in my cell and I can see the sun, and I know I look at the same sun you look at when the sun goes down,' she wrote in the letter.
After reading that, Van Heerdan said that he has trouble looking at the sun now because he 'just thinks of her.'
His girlfriend is now being held in a cell at Yekaterinburg detention center, about 1,000 miles east of Moscow, in conditions that are a grim contrast to her job as a esthetician at a spa in Beverly Hills.
The payment was discovered after her phone was seized when she flew into Yekaterinburg's Koltsovo Airport on January 2, planning to visit her 90-year-old grandparents in time for Russia's Christmas day.
She was arrested after being invited to pick up her phone on January 27, the day that Ven Heerden last spoke to her.
'Fifty-one dollars, come on,' he told NBC, 'a simple donation because she's kind.
'I was actually thinking of proposing to this woman, so every day is tough.
'She's got an affectionate smile. Always happy, so, so, so giving. She lives a full life.'
His girlfriend is now being held in a cell at Yekaterinburg detention center (pictured), about 1,000 miles
