Maria Butina, 29, a Russian citizen residing in Washington D.C., was arrested on July 15, 2018.
A criminal complaint was unsealed on July, 16 charging the Russian national with conspiracy to act as an agent of the Russian Federation within the United States without prior notification to the Attorney General, the US Department of Justice reports. The woman was ordered held pending a hearing set for July 18, 2018.
According to the US side, from as early as 2015 and continuing through at least February 2017, Butina worked at the direction of a high-level official in the Russian government who was previously a member of the legislature of the Russian Federation and later became a top official at the Russian Central Bank. This Russian official was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control in April 2018. The Department of Justice has not given his name.
The court filings detail the Russian official’s and Butina’s efforts for Butina to act as an agent of Russia inside the United States by developing relationships with U.S. persons and infiltrating organizations having influence in American politics, for the purpose of advancing the interests of the Russian Federation. The filings also describe certain actions taken by Butina to further this effort during multiple visits from Russia and, later, when she entered and resided in the United States on a student visa. The filings allege that she undertook her activities without officially disclosing the fact that she was acting as an agent of Russian government, as required by law.
The maximum penalty for conspiracy is five years.
According to her defense lawyer, Butina took her Master’s degree at an American university not long ago, and she is not anybody’s agent. In Russia Maria Butsina was known as the assistant of Senator Alexander Torshin, as well as a member of the board of public organization ‘Right To Arms’.
Belsat.eu
