The boyfriend of LA ballerina Ksenia Karelina has received a ‘love letter’ from the Russian prison where she is awaiting trial for high treason after donating $50 to a Ukrainian charity.
Boxer Chris Van Heerde revealed he planned to propose to the 33-year-old before she was captured and led blindfolded to a Russian courthouse while visiting her elderly grandparents in January.
His girlfriend is now being held in a cell 1,000 miles east of Moscow, in conditions that are in stark contrast to her job as a beautician at a Beverly Hills spa.
“They had to go to bed at ten o’clock and shower once a week, which is painful,” says Van Heerde (36).
“She said, ‘I have a little window in my cell and I can see the sun, and I know I’m looking at the same sun as you when the sun goes down.’
Chris Van Heerde said Karelina sent him a ‘love letter’ from her Russian prison cell, describing the grim conditions in which she is being held
Karelina is accused of fundraising for a pro-Ukrainian organization. She obtained US citizenship in 2021
Images of a chained, hooded Karelina shocked the world when she was pictured being led into a Russian courthouse on charges of high treason
Karelina, who has dual Russian-American citizenship, faces up to 20 years in prison for making a small donation to the humanitarian charity Razom on the day Russia invaded Ukraine.
The charge was discovered after her phone was confiscated as 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 answer her phone on January 27, the day Ven Heerde last spoke to her.
“Fifty-one dollars, come on,” he told NBC, “a simple donation because she’s nice.
“I was actually thinking about asking this woman to marry me, so every day is hard.
‘She has a loving smile. Always happy, so, so, so giving. She lives a full life.”
Her application for house arrest was rejected at a detention hearing this week and Russia has refused to grant consular access to US officials, as Karelina becomes the latest pawn in a diplomatic war between Washington and Moscow.
“I had no hope for it,” Van Heerde said, emphasizing that she needed a “miracle” to escape from Russian custody.
The LA dancer and beautician faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted
Dual Russian-American citizen Ksenia Karelina, 33, was arrested on January 27 by Vladimir Putin’s Federal Security Service, the FSB.
Ksenia Karelina, 33, pictured with her father Pavel, mother Liliya and younger sister, is being held in Russia on charges of high treason
The case has further fueled fears that Western citizens with Russian passports are being targeted for arrest in Russia
On her Facebook page, Karelina says she is from Yekaterinburg and that she studied ballet at the SP Diaghilev School
“I broke down because I knew Ksenia, she is a sweetheart, she is so gentle and I can’t imagine how scared she must be,” he added.
‘I want people to know that Ksenia is a normal person, that’s my job. She’s a normal American citizen who made a mistake.
“I’m in a fight right now that I have no control over, I’m in a fight that I’m not familiar with. I’m trying my best to do as much as possible.’
Yekaterinburg is also the same city where Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich was arrested on espionage charges nearly 12 months ago.
Karelina was sentenced to 14 days in prison for ‘petty hooliganism’ before being charged with treason.
Russia’s FSB claims it “proactively raised funds in the interests of one of the Ukrainian organizations, which were then used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to purchase tactical medicines, equipment, weapons and ammunition.”
Dora Chomiak, CEO of Razom, said in a statement that the organization is “shocked by Karelina’s arrest.
“Vladimir Putin has repeatedly shown that he does not put any sovereign border, foreign nationality or international treaty above his own narrow interests,” Chomiak said.
“His regime attacks civil society activists who stand up for freedom and democracy.”
Last week, Karelina’s distraught father said he “didn’t know” how to help her.
Pavel Karelina, 56, said publicly for the first time in an interview with DailyMail.com that he could not comment on the Russian government’s ongoing case against his daughter, but thanked the public for their support.
‘We really can’t say anything now. We ourselves cannot understand what is happening,” said Pavel, general manager of a Russian transport equipment company.
‘Please understand. Thanks for the good wishes.’
Karelina’s former husband, Evgeny Khavana, revealed last month that his own family lives in fear and cannot speak freely because they believe they are being “listened to” by Russian authorities.
He said: ‘We can’t talk, my family can’t say anything,’ he added.
Her mother-in-law, Eleanora Sreboski, told DailyMail.com that Ksenia would spend the rest of her life in a Russian prison if America did not intervene.
Van Heerde said his girlfriend oscillated between motivation and hopelessness the next day, but was “prepared for what might be the fight of her life.”
He said guards let her out of her cell once a day, but sometimes kept her outside for hours in the freezing Russian winter.
Karelina was still dancing during the last video call between the pair before her arrest
The South African-born former IBO welterweight champion says he is now in a ‘fight that I am not familiar with’ as he struggles to free his girlfriend
“Ksenia is a sweetheart, she is so gentle and I can’t imagine how scared she must be,” he said.
“I’m in a fight right now that I have no control over, I’m in a fight that I’m not familiar with,” he added.
‘I’m trying my best to do as much as possible.
‘I want people to know that Ksenia is a normal person, that’s my job. She’s a normal American citizen who made a mistake.
‘Ksenia is a sweetheart, she is so gentle and I can’t imagine how scared she must be.’