Russian-American woman Ksenia Karelina, who was serving a 12-year prison sentence for treason in Russia, was released as part of a prisoner exchange that saw her swapped for an accused smuggler held in the US.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X early on Thursday that Karelina had been released and was on her way to the United States.

“American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States. She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year and President Trump secured her release,” Rubio said on X.

Russia and the U.S. carried out a prisoner swap early Thursday in Abu Dhabi in a sign of continuing confidence building, as the two sides pursue a deal to end the war in Ukraine.

Russian-American ballerina Ksenia Karelina was released from Kremlin custody in a prisoner swap with the United States Thursday morning.

Karelina was freed in exchange for German-Russian Arthur Petrov at a swap in Abu Dhabi, the Wall Street Journal reported.

“American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

“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,” he added.

Former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Jessica Aber, who was found dead at the age of 43 by Virginia authorities on Saturday, was at the helm of high-profile investigations into intelligence leaks, allegations of war crimes against Russian-linked individuals and people suspected of providing sensitive U.S. technology to Moscow before she stepped down at the start of the year.

A terrorist from the Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISIS-K), who was extradited to the United States in the early Wednesday morning hours, confessed to the FBI that he played key roles in the infamous bombing of Abbey Gate at the Kabul, Afghanistan airport that took the lives of soldiers and civilians, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. He also claimed taking part in a deadly attack on a concert hall in Moscow, and a blast targeting Canadian embassy security guards in Kabul.

The United States has stepped up secret drone flights over Mexico to hunt for fentanyl labs, part of the Trump administration’s more aggressive campaign against drug cartels, according to U.S. officials.

The covert drone program, which has not been previously disclosed, began under the Biden administration, according to U.S. officials and others familiar with the program.

The Central Intelligence Agency is poised to take a larger, more aggressive role under President Donald Trump in the battle against Mexican-based drug cartels, devising and evaluating plans to share more intelligence with regional governments, train local counternarcotics units and possibly conduct other covert actions, according to people familiar with the matter.

US President Donald Trump has ordered the declassification of all remaining withheld records pertaining to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Almost 5,000 documents are still veiled in secrecy.

The CIA now believes the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic most likely originated from a laboratory, according to an assessment that points the finger at China even while acknowledging that the spy agency has “low confidence” in its own conclusion.

The CIA now believes the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic most likely originated from a laboratory, according to an assessment released on Saturday. It points the finger at China despite acknowledging that the spy agency has “low confidence” in its own conclusion.