Russia’s main security agency said on Tuesday that it had arrested a dual citizen of Russia and the United States on accusations of committing state treason by raising funds for Ukraine.

The Federal Security Service, known as the F.S.B., identified the detainee as a 33-year-old woman who lives in Los Angeles. It said in a statement that she had raised money for a Ukrainian organization that bought weapons and other equipment for Ukraine’s military.

Perviy Otdel, a group of Russian lawyers who specialize in cases involving accusations of treason and other politically charged allegations, said that the woman had been accused of treason for sending just over $50 to Razom for Ukraine, a New York-based nonprofit organization that sends assistance to the country.

The F.S.B. said that the woman had been arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg in central Russia. RIA Novosti, a Russian state news agency, published a video that it said showed the woman, wearing a white hat that covered her eyes, being handcuffed and escorted by masked security service officers.

  • shani66@ani.social
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    9 months ago

    Is it victim blaming if the victim deliberately walked into a nest of angry, burning wasps? What did she think was going to happen going to Russia?

    • yeahiknow3@lemmings.world
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      9 months ago

      “I walked into Mordor and was swarmed by orcs.”

      I feel bad for her but WHY? Why did she go to Mordor? Unless you have the one ring to destroy or an army at your back, do not go to Mordor.

    • ickplant@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      It is victim blaming, and it’s disgusting. Let’s place the blame on Putin and his regime.

      “She had traveled to Russia to visit her 90-year-old grandmother, parents and a younger sister.” I don’t think she was sitting there thinking about the $50 she donated to help Ukraine once.

  • Seasoned_Greetings@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    It’s likely that she had the mindset of “Russia isn’t as bad as the media paints it” because she has family there. But the Kremlin is that bad. She learned the hard way, and now there’s a significant chance she will spend her life in prison or die waiting.

  • TechNerdWizard42@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    And to be absolutely clear, if you as an American decide to give $50 to the Houthis you too can be federally prosecuted for aiding terrorism. Not slap on the wrist charges but federal pound you in the a prison prison.

    If you are funding the enemy of a country, then go to that country, you’re gonna have a bad day.

    “Terrorist” is a charged propaganda word that your government labels things it doesn’t like acting against them while doing the same thing in the country’s supposed best interest and labeling it protection and self defense.

    If you pick a side, stay on your side.