Released Russian spy to get hero’s welcome home
A Siberian gun rights lobbyist who was convicted of spying in the United States after forging ties with the National Rifle Association and influential Republicans is to be released today and returned to Russia.
Maria Butina, 30, is expected to be treated as a heroine in Moscow. She was arrested in July last year in Washington and sentenced in December to 18 months in jail in St Petersburg, Florida. Nearly half of her sentence was credited as already served after she pleaded guilty to being an unregistered foreign agent under a law that combats ‘‘espionage-like or clandestine behaviour’’.
US prosecutors said that Butina was not working for a Russian spy agency but had knowingly taken part in an operation to ‘‘spot and assess’’ potential espionage targets. After her conviction, the Russian foreign ministry changed its social media profile pictures to Butina and Moscow has lobbied for her release, claiming that she was innocent.
According to the FBI, Butina made a covert effort to ‘‘penetrate the US national decision-making apparatus’’ at the direction of Alexander Torshin, a former deputy head of the Central Bank of Russia and lifetime member of the National Rifle Association (NRA), the gun group that spent more than US$30 million (NZ$47m) on the Trump campaign. Torshin is the subject of sanctions from the US Treasury.
In an interview from jail, Butina said that she was aware that ‘‘analysis’’ she gave to Torshin was being passed to the Russian ministry of foreign affairs, but denied having a link to the Federal Security Service (FSB) or other spy agencies. She described her activities as ‘‘civil diplomacy’’, adding: ‘‘I never hide my love to my motherland neither to this country . . . I love both countries, and I was building peace.’’
The lobbyist claimed a note found in her American boyfriend’s apartment reading ‘‘How to respond to FSB offer of employment?’’ came after a discussion the couple had about what to do if she was approached by espionage agents once she returned to Russia.
A former student at American University, in Washington, she said that on her release she would ‘‘like to be a professor’’. Butina entered the US on a student visa and, during the 2016 presidential election campaign, forged relationships with influential US groups, including the NRA. She attended Trump campaign events and those held by conservative activists, allegedly intending to report back to Moscow. According to Kevin Helson, an FBI agent, she was attempting to ‘‘establish a back channel communication for representatives of the government of Russia’’.
Preparations for Butina’s release came as Paul Whelan, an AmericanBritish former US Marine accused of spying in Moscow, told a court in the city that he had been abused in jail, including having a gun held to his head. Whelan, 48, said that he was ‘‘innocent of a crime that never happened’’. He added: ‘‘Russia says it caught James Bond on a spy mission. In reality, they abducted Mr Bean on holiday.’’
Some analysts suggested that Whelan was seized as a bargaining chip as Moscow sought the release of Butina. The US state department has called for him to be freed, saying that no evidence of his guilt has been offered.
‘‘I never hide my love to my motherland neither to this country . . . I love both countries, and I was building peace.’’
Maria Butina