U.S. charges Russian woman with acting as covert agent

WASHINGTON — U.S. prosecutors said Monday they’ve arrested a 29-year-old woman, accusing her of acting as a covert agent inside the U.S. on behalf of a senior Kremlin official.

The arrest announcement of Maria Butina came just hours after President Donald Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin and just days after special counsel Robert Mueller charged 12 Russian intelligence officials with directing a sprawling hacking effort aimed at swaying the 2016 election.

Butina, a Russian national who has been living the U.S., was charged with conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of Russia’s government and accused of working to infiltrate U.S. political organizations, including the National Rifle Association. The charge was brought by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia and does not appear to stem from Mueller’s probe.

Court papers say Butina met with U.S. politicians and candidates, attended events sponsored by special interest groups — including two National Prayer Breakfast — and organized Russian-American “friendship and dialogue” dinners in Washington, with the goal of “reporting back to Moscow” what she had learned. Court papers do not name the Kremlin official, described as a member of the Russian legislature who later became a top official in the country’s central bank. Prosecutors also note that that official has since been sanctioned by the U.S.