WASHINGTON (TNND) — President Donald Trump is expected to meet with a Russian-American ballerina who was freed in an April prison swap negotiated by the Trump administration.

A U.S. official is reporting that Ksenia Karelina will meet with Trump at the White House on Monday afternoon. Karelina was brought to Washington, D.C. last month and was greeted then by U.S. officials.

Karelina was convicted in August 2024 and sentenced to 12 years in prison on charges stemming from a donation of about $52 to a charity aiding Ukraine. She was arrested in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg in February.

The 33-year-old obtained U.S. citizenship after marrying an American and moving to Los Angeles, but had returned to Russia to visit her family at the time of her arrest.

"American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States," Sec. of State Marco Rubio wrote on X upon news of her release. "She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year and President Trump secured her release. POTUS will continue to work for the release of ALL Americans."

UFC President Dana White played an unexpected diplomatic role in helping Trump secure the release of Karelina, the president told reporters in the Oval Office back in April.

The WSJ reported that the U.S. exchanged Arthur Petrov, a dual German-Russian citizen who was arrested in 2023 in Cyprus at the request of the U.S. for allegedly exporting sensitive microelectronics to Russia.

______________

The National News Desk's Alexx Altman-Devilbiss contributed to this report.