<a href="http://thenationalnews.com/tags/russia" target="_blank">Russia</a> and the <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/us/" target="_blank">US</a> exchanged prisoners in a UAE-mediated swap in Abu Dhabi on Thursday morning, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The swap included one US-Russian citizen, Ksenia Karelina, and one German-Russian citizen, Arthur Petrov. The UAE Ambassador to the US explained how the Emirates was proud to facilitate the exchange in Abu Dhabi. “Ksenia’s first stop on her way back to freedom. The UAE was proud to help - always here for our friends," said Yousef Al Otaiba, in a post by the UAE Embassy in the US on social media platform X. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X saying that Ms Karelina was released after being "wrongfully detained by Russia" for more than a year. UAE authorities released photos of Ms Karelina with the country's ambassador to the US, Yousef Al Otaiba, at the airfield. Ms Karelina was sentenced to 12 years for allegedly donating money to an American charity that sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine. In exchange, the US freed Arthur Petrov, who had been arrested in Cyprus in 2023 for allegedly exporting sensitive microelectronics. In February, the administration of US President Donald Trump secured the release of Marc Fogel, a US schoolteacher who had been held in Russia for more than three years on drug charges. His release was part of a prisoner exchange with Moscow. The UAE previously mediated a prisoner exchange on March 19 that resulted in the release of 175 Russians and 175 Ukrainians.
