John Ratcliffe thanked the UAE government “for enabling the exchange”
Agency Report
The United States and Russia have carried out a prisoner swap in the United Arab Emirates, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said.
Ratcliffe told the Wall Street Journal that CIA officers “worked tirelessly” to bring home “another wrongfully detained American from Russia.”
The CIA chief also thanked the UAE government “for enabling the exchange.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, the prisoner swap took place in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi.
According to the newspaper’s sources, Arthur Petrov will return to Russia and Ksenia Karelian will go back to the US.
Petrov, a dual Russian-German national, was arrested in Cyprus on August 26, 2023, at Washington’s request. He was charged with illegally exporting US-made microelectronics to Russia. According to the US Department of Justice, Petrov was involved in transactions and shipments “in contravention of US export controls relating to Russia.” He was extradited to the US on August 9, 2024. From the very beginning, he has been saying that his case was politically motivated. Petrov said that the US was seeking to persecute him simply for being a businessman from Russia.
According to Russia’s Federal Security Service, Ksenia Karelina, a Los Angeles resident detained in Russia’s Yekaterinburg on February 20, 2024, initiated a fundraiser for a Ukrainian organization, with the money spent on medical supplies, uniforms, weapons and ammunition for the Ukrainian army. On August 15, 2024, a Yekaterinburg court found Karelina guilty of high treason, sentencing her to 12 years in a penal colony.
Follow the KOIKIMEDIA NEWS 🗞️ CHANNEL on WhatsApp