U.S. ARRESTS RUSSIAN WOMAN, 29, AS COVERT AGENT.

FBI alleges ties to politicians, gun groups

WASHINGTON • A Russian woman with alleged ties to a top Russian official was charged in federal court in Washington Monday with conspiracy to act as an agent of the Russian Federation, and was ordered held without bond.

Maria Butina, 29, was arrested Sunday in Washington. She is accused of developing relationships with American politicians and a “gun rights organization,” none of which are named in the affidavit. FBI Special Agent Kevin Helson wrote that Butina was attempting to “establish a ‘back channel’ communication for representatives of the Government of Russia.”

The affidavit also contains apparent communications, by direct message on Twitter, between Butina and the unnamed Russian official.

“Your political star has risen in the sky,” the official told Butina. “Now it is important to rise to the zenith and not burn out (fall) prematurely,” and they later discussed the “Russia-usa friendship society.”

In 2017, Butina and the official attended the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, the affidavit states.

Butina, a former furniture store owner, founded a Russian gun rights group Right to Bear Arms and became an assistant to Russian central banker and former senator Alexander Torshin, who is a lifetime member of the NRA.

She began reaching out to American gun enthusiasts in 2013, on several occasions hosting NRA executives and gun activists in Moscow, including one delegation that included former Milwaukee Sheriff Dave Clarke. She and Torshin also attended a series of NRA events in the U.S. starting in 2014.

She had a number of key interactions with the Trump campaign. In June 2015, as Trump announced his candidacy, Butina wrote a column in the National Interest, a conservative magazine, suggesting that only by electing a Republican could the U.S. and Russia hope to improve relations.

The next month, she attended a town hall in Las Vegas where Trump was speaking and publicly asked him: “What will be your foreign politics, especially in the relations with my country?”

“I know Putin and I’ll tell you what, we get along with Putin,” Trump responded.

Maria Butina