President Donald Trump appeared delighted by a ballerina whom he helped free from a Russian prison in the pair’s first meeting.
Video posted online shows the commander-in-chief shaking hands with Ksenia Karelina inside the Oval Office on Monday, just weeks after the 33-year-old returned to American soil.
As she offered her thanks, the president could be heard telling the dancer: ‘Congratulations. That’s very nice, that’s a great honor.’
He then joked with her family and her fiancée, professional boxer Chris van Heerden, that he now understands why they fought so hard for her return.
Turning his attention back to Karelina, Trump asked her how long she was left languishing in the Russian prison – to which she replies 15 months.
‘That’s a long time,’ Trump acknowledges. In another clip, Karelina could be seen thanking the president for securing her release.
The ballerina was arrested while visiting her family in Yekaterinburg in February 2024, when Russian authorities discovered she donated $51 to the Ukrainian aid group Razom – and accused her of supporting the Ukrainian army.
She was sentenced to spend 12 years in a penal colony, but was freed in a prisoner swap last month.
It was negotiated between the intelligence agencies of Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Trump, and saw Karelina freed in exchange for Russian national German Arthur Petrov, who was arrested in Cyprus in August 2023 on US charges of smuggling sensitive microelectronics to Russia.
President Donald Trump met with ballerina Ksenia Karelina inside the Oval Office on Monday after she returned to the United States
Karelina is pictured thanking the president for securing her freedom
Karelina and her fiancée, professional boxer Chris van Heerden, took a photo with Trump
Heartwarming photos from her return showed Karelina embracing her fiancé at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland and walking away with a smile on her face and flowers in her hands.
Petrov, meanwhile, was extradited to the US and was later released in Abu Dhabi.
Following her return, van Heerden praised Trump for his efforts to bring his fiancé home.
‘The old administration didn’t do nothing for her. We’re very thankful for President Trump and the new administration,’ he told TMZ.
The boxer recounted that there were ‘a handful of people in the old administration that were amazing,’ but he swiftly realized it would not be enough to bring his partner home.
‘About eight months in we knew we were going to struggle with the Biden administration,’ van Heerden said, adding that he had ‘faith and belief that President Trump would bring her back.’
Karelina also praised the president for his efforts, adding that she was not yet ready to speak publicly about her ordeal.
‘I’m just really grateful to President Trump and the government for bringing me back and it just really feels good to be home,’ she said.President Donald Trump briefly met with ballerina Ksenia Karelina inside the Oval Office on Monday, weeks after she returned to the United States
Ksenia, 33, was arrested while visiting her family in Yekaterinburg in February 2024,
The FSB security service found a $51 donation to the Ukrainian aid group Razom on her phone and accused her of supporting the Ukrainian army
Trump was sworn in for a second term as POTUS in January, and his administration set to work negotiating the terms of Karelina’s release in the months since.
‘This young ballerina is out, and we appreciate that,’ Trump said during a Cabinet meeting immediately following the revelation she’d made it home.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who was reportedly involved in prisoner negotiations with FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov, was among those who greeted Karelina at the airport in Abu Dhabi.
He, too, praised Trump for bringing the Los Angeles-based dancer home.
‘Today, President Trump brought home another wrongfully detained American from Russia,’ Ratcliffe told the Wall Street Journal.
‘I’m proud of the CIA officers who worked tirelessly to support this effort, and we appreciate the Government of the United Arab Emirates for enabling the exchange.
Now-ousted national security adviser Mike Waltz added that: ‘The United States welcomes the return of American-Russian ballerina Ksenia Karelina.’
‘President Trump and his administration continue to work around the clock to ensure Americans detained abroad are returned home to their families.’
She was seen walking away with a smile on her face and flowers in her hands
Karelina was freed in a prisoner swap last month and was reunited with her fiancé Chris van Heerden when she arrived at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland
Karelina was released in exchange for Russian national German Arthur Petrov, who was arrested in Cyprus in August 2023 on US charges of smuggling sensitive microelectronics to Russia
Karelina’s release marks the second prisoner swap between the US and Russia since Donald Trump took office in January.
Russia in February freed Marc Fogel, a schoolteacher and former employee of the US embassy in Moscow.
Fogel had served three and a half years of a 14-year sentence for drug smuggling after being caught in possession of a small amount of marijuana.
In exchange, Washington released Alexander Vinnik, a convicted Russian cybercriminal who had pleaded guilty in a US court to conspiring to launder money.
But at least 10 other Americans remain behind bars in Russia on various charges, hoping that their government can secure their release.
They include Stephen Hubbard, a 73-year-old native of Michigan jailed in October for nearly seven years on charges that he served as a mercenary in Ukraine.
Hubbard had been living in the Ukrainian town of Izium and was arrested after Russian forces took control of the city in 2022.
His relatives rejected claims that Hubbard served for Ukraine, pointing to his advanced age. He was designated in January as wrongfully detained.
Russian-American dual citizen Ksenia Karelina boards a private jet after her release at an airport in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, April 10
Marc Fogel, an American history teacher who was detained in Russia and Steve Witkoff, U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East reacts during US President Donald Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress
Gordon Black, an active duty US staff sergeant based in South Korea, was also detained last May in Russia’s Far East on suspicion of stealing money from his Russian girlfriend.
A court in June found Black guilty of stealing 10,000 roubles ($104) from the woman and threatening to kill her, sentencing him to three years and nine months in prison.
Another American citizen, Joseph Tater, was sentenced to 15 days in jail last August for ‘petty hooliganism’ after he was alleged to have abused staff at a Moscow hotel, which he denied.
He should have been released after serving the small sentence, but Russian news agencies say he is now being investigated on a more serious charge of assaulting a police officer, which carries up to five years in prison.
A court in September denied his appeal to be released from pre-trial detention and he remains in custody.
And, in one of the most high-profile cases, American citizen Eugene Spector – who was born in Russia and then moved to the US – was charged last August with espionage.
He had served as chairman of the board of Medpolymerprom Group, a company specializing in cancer-curing drugs, state media said.
Spector had pleaded guilty to helping bribe an assistant to an ex-Russian deputy prime minister. It was not clear how he pleaded to the espionage charge.
Now, those prisoners hope Trump’s efforts to renew diplomatic ties with Russia will see them freed in the coming months.
‘The exchange shows the importance of keeping lines of communication open with Russia, despite the deep challenges in our bilateral relationship,’ a CIA spokeswoman told the WSJ following Karelina’s release.
‘While we are disappointed that other Americans remain wrongfully detained in Russia, we see this exchange as a positive step and will continue to work for their release.’