Russia has freed an imprisoned Russian American accused of treason by Washington, a claim the U.S. government deemed ridiculous. However, there are still other American citizens detained in Russia.
Ksenia Karelina was arrested and convicted last year over a donation of about $52 to a charity aiding Ukraine.
Her release is the latest in a series of high-profile prisoner exchanges Russia and the United States carried out in the last three years.
Here is a look at other Americans who remain in Russian custody:
Stephen Hubbard
The individual from Michigan was found guilty of participating in combat with the Ukrainian military as a mercenary against Russia. He was sentenced to six years and 10 months in October 2024. According to prosecutors in the closed trial, the individual, named Hubbard, had entered into a contract with the Ukrainian military shortly after Russian soldiers invaded in February 2022. He continued fighting on the Ukrainian side until he was captured two months later. At the time of his conviction, Hubbard was 72 years old and became the first known American to be sentenced for fighting on Ukraine’s behalf in the conflict.
Travis Leake
The musician was imprisoned on drug-related charges and received a 13-year sentence in July 2024. Known as the lead singer of the band Lovi Noch (Seize the Night), his Instagram page revealed his identity. Media reports indicated that he was a former U.S. military paratrooper who had been living in Moscow since 2010.
Gordon Black
An Army staff sergeant, Black was convicted in June 2024 in Vladivostok of stealing and making threats against his girlfriend, and was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison. An appellate court this week reduced his sentence to three years and two months. He had flown to Russia from his post in South Korea without authorization and was arrested in May after his girlfriend accused him of stealing from her, according to U.S. and Russian authorities.
Robert Woodland
Woodland, a Russia-born U.S. citizen, was convicted of drug trafficking in July 2024 and sentenced to 12 1/2 years in prison. Russian media reported that his name matches a U.S. citizen interviewed in 2020 who said he was born in the Perm region in 1991 and adopted by an American couple at age 2. He said he traveled to Russia to find his mother and eventually met her on a TV show.
David Barnes
An engineer from Texas, Barnes was arrested in 2022 while visiting his sons in Russia, where their mother had taken them. His supporters say the woman made baseless claims of sexual abuse that already had been discredited by Texas investigators but a Russian court in February 2024 convicted him on those claims and sentenced him to 21 years in prison.
Robert Gilman
Identified in Russian media as a former U.S. Marine, Gilman was convicted of beating a police officer after being taken off of a train for causing a disturbance and handed a 3 1/2-year sentence in 2022. He later was convicted of attacking a prison inspector during a cell check, beating an investigator and assaulting a prison guard and was sentenced in October 2024 to seven years and one month in prison.
Eugene Spector
A Russian-born U.S. citizen, Spector was convicted of espionage and handed a 15-year prison term in December 2024. Spector, formerly an executive at a medical equipment company in Russia, was previously convicted of enabling bribes to a Russian government official and sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison in September 2022.
Joseph Tater
Tater was arrested in August 2024 at an upscale Moscow hotel after an argument over documents. At a police station, he allegedly attacked an officer. He was convicted on hooliganism charges related to the hotel incident and handed a 15-day sentence, but is awaiting trial on assaulting a law officer. That carries a sentence of up to five years. He has denied the assault charges and argued that they stemmed from miscommunication. At a September court hearing, Tater claimed he came to Russia to seek political asylum and that he was being persecuted by the CIA. The state Tass news agency reported Sunday that a Moscow court ordered he be put into a psychiatric clinic for treatment.
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