As I reported after she was arrested in Russia a little over a year ago, Karelina was accused of donating money to Ukrainian causes. But not just any cause, she donated to a website that was explicitly raising funds to donate military equipment, including FPV drones and military IFAK (first aid) kits.
What’s curious about western reporting of the exchange that took place today, is how lacking they are in information about the person Karelina was exchanged for, Arthur Petrov, who was arrested in August 2023 on accusations of evading US controls on the sale of microelectronics.
Another interesting fact that is left out of western coverage is that he was arrested in Cyprus and extradited to the USA. In other words, Russia is accused of “lawfare” for arresting American citizens for breaking the law in Russia. Meanwhile, the US feels free to arrest foreign citizens anywhere in the world. Or at least anywhere in the world that has a government subordinated to US interests.
Even more curious, western news media, like this CNN article, directly cite “Russian state media” for information about Petrov. Was there really no American source that American media could use, and were forced to rely on the awful “Russian state media?”