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Boyfriend of Ksenia Khavana, Los Angeles ballet dancer detained in Russia, speaks out
Ksenia Khavana, a ballet dancer with dual U.S. and Russian citizenship, was arrested in Russia on charges of treason in late January. Chris Van Heerden, a former world champion boxer and Khavana’s boyfriend, spoke to CBS News about the fight to bring her back.
Van Heerden said he and Khavana met in 2020 in Los Angeles and have been romantically involved for the past six months. The couple celebrated the new year together in Istanbul, Turkey, before Khavana flew to her family’s hometown of Yekaterinburg, Russia, about 1,100 miles east of Moscow.
“She was just so excited to go back home because she misses her grandparents,” Van Heerden said. “And that was the purpose of me buying that ticket. I bought her that ticket, and I’m so angry at myself, but I didn’t know.”
Chris Van Heerden
Van Heerden bought Khavana the ticket as a birthday present, saying that, although he was worried about the ongoing war in Ukraine, she alleviated his concerns. He reached out to her when he returned to Los Angeles from Turkey, but “hours went by with no response.”
Khavana eventually called Van Heerden from her mother’s phone, saying she had been detained upon her arrival and her phone had been taken. The next three weeks passed without incident.
“I remember the last week I could see my girlfriend — I was like, she’s happy, finally she’s relaxing… she was excited,” Van Heerden said of their daily FaceTimes on Khavana’s mother’s phone.
On the morning of Jan. 27 Khavana told Van Heerden that everything was good, and she had been told she could pick up her phone ahead of her return flight. But Van Heerden later received a call from Khavana’s father, who told him she had been detained.
Khavana was arrested after making a donation of only about $51 to a Ukrainian charity. Russia’s Federal Security Service alleges she also took part in “public actions” in the U.S. in support of Kyiv. It did not provide further details about the allegations.
If convicted of treason under Article 275 of the Russian Criminal Code, Khavana faces up to 20 years in prison.
“I’ve been [speaking to] the U.S. State Department, Congressman Adam Schiff’s seen me in L.A., The U.S. embassy in Moscow has responded, but everyone is not saying anything because apparently Ksenia needs to sign some forms,” Van Heerden said of the case’s current status. “This could take weeks or months. And I’m like, who do I speak to to make sure we get someone to Ksenia ASAP to make sure she’s okay and sign those letters so I can be in the loop?”
The only contact Van Heerden has had with Khavana since her detention has been via letters, which he says go through vetting protocols. When Khavana went to court in Russia previously, she stood alone, Van Heerden said.
“The lawyer didn’t show up. No one wants to touch this case,” Van Heerden said. She is next scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 29, and has not yet been able to secure legal representation, Van Heerden told CBS News.
“I just want to give this girl a fighting chance. I just want to let her know that hey, when she arrives there on the 29th, there’s a lawyer, and she doesn’t feel like no one cares about her.” Van Heerden said. “I’m just desperate. I want to fight for this girl.”
— Imtiaz Tyab contributed reporting.
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Moscow — Former Royal Ballet star Sergei Polunin, famous for his tattoos of Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday announced that he plans to leave Russia. The Ukrainian-Russian dancer was one of the most prominent stars who backed Russia’s unilateral 2014 annexation of Crimea and its military assault on Ukraine. He was rewarded with prestigious state posts.
In a rambling, misspelled message on his Instagram account, Polunin wrote: “My time in Russia ran out a long time ago, it seems at this moment that I have fulfilled my mission here.”
The post first appeared Sunday on his little-read Telegram account.
Ian Gavan/Getty
Polunin, 35, did not give a specific reason for leaving but said that “a time comes when the soul feels it is not where it should be.”
He said he was leaving with his family — his wife Yelena and three children — but “where we will go is not clear so far.”
In the summer, the dancer complained of a lack of security and said he was being followed.
Polunin, who was born in Ukraine, backed Putin’s 2014 annexation of Crimea — a prelude to the ongoing, full-scale invasion of Ukraine that Putin launched in February 2022.
The dancer was granted Russian citizenship in 2019. He was appointed acting head of a dance academy in occupied Crimea’s biggest city, Sevastopol, and director of the city’s opera and ballet theatre, for which a large new building is under construction.
Just last year he was decorated by Putin for his role in popularizing dance. But in August he was replaced as head of the dance academy by former Bolshoi prima Maria Alexandrova, and a week ago, Russia’s arts minister Olga Lyubimova announced his theater director job would go to singer Ildar Abdrazakov.
This came after on December 9 Polunin published a social media post saying he was “very sorry for people” living in the heavily bombarded village near Ukraine’s city of Kherson, where his family originates from, and that “the worst deal would be better than war.”
Ian Gavan/Getty
Aged 13, Polunin won a scholarship to train at the Royal Ballet School in London and became its youngest ever principal dancer.
With his tattoos — including a large depiction of Putin’s face emblazoned prominently on his chest — and his rebellious attitude, he became known as the “bad boy of ballet” and caused a sensation by resigning from the Royal Ballet at the height of his fame in 2012.
Later he made a 2015 hit video to Irish musician Hozier’s song “Take Me to Church” and was the star of a 2016 documentary called “Dancer.”
He moved to perform at Moscow’s Stanislavsky Musical Theatre’s ballet before launching a solo career, starring in dance performances in roles including the mystic Grigory Rasputin.
In 2019 he posed for AFP with a large tattoo of Putin on his chest which he later supplemented with two Putin faces on either shoulder. He also has a large Ukrainian trident on his right hand.
This year he took part in Putin’s campaign for reelection as a celebrity backer.
