RED MENACE
XXX ploits of Russia’s latest US ‘spy’ gal
Maria Butina (left), the flame-haired Russian busted in DC this week as a foreign agent, was compared by Moscow to s exy Kremlin spy Anna Chapman, prosecutors alleged yesterday, claiming she tried to sleep her way into US political circles.
toy pistols, ou have up staged Anna Chapman ... She poses with Yo Y are a hell ofa hile you are being published with real ones. There wwh lot of rumors circulating here about me too! Very funny.” —Accused spy Maria But ina’ s Russian handler
She’s Russia’s new sexy redhead spy. Maria Butina, the ginger-fringed Russian charged this week with acting as a foreign agent in the United States, was compared by her handler to sultry Kremlin spook Anna Chapman, prosecutors alleged Wednesday.
But this 29-year-yold femme fatale took “sleeper agent” to thethe nnext level — attempting to shag her way into powerful US political circles so she could set up a “back channel” between Moscow and American lawmakers, the feds claim.
The revelarevelations helped convince a DC federaleral judge to rule Wednesday afternoon that Butina is an extremee flight risk and must stay behind bars until her trial. Butina’s lalawyer entered a “not guilty” plea and insisted her client is no undercover agent — but prosecutors revealed a trove of evidence to the contrary Wednesday, including a photo of her meeting with an alleged Russian intelligence agent and transcripts of chats with her handler.
“Good morning! How are you faring there in the rays of the new fame? Are your admirers asking for your autographs yet?y You have upstaged Anna Chapman,” wwrote the man, identified in court docs only as a “Russian official” — but widely believed to beb Alexander Torshin, a former member of pparliament who is now the deputy governor of tthe country’s central bank.
The March 2017 chat was referencing a seriesries of media articles that had just been publishedlished about Butina, who had made a name for herself as a gun-grights advocate while attendinging American University in Washington, DC, on a student visa, federal prosecutors claim.
“[Chapman] poses with toy pistols, while you are being published with real ones. There are a hell of a lot of rumors circulating here about me, too! Very funny!” he continued.
Chapman, who was busted in 2010 for being part of a Russian sleeper cell, parlayed her infamy into a modeling career after being deported back to her homeland — posing as a guntoting spy for magazines and on the runway.
Prosecutors in the Butina case argued that the official’s comparisons between the two women — along with other conversations about Butina acting “covertly” — show she is “on par with other covert Russian agents.”
She allegedly sent the official a photo of herself near the US Capitol on the day of President Trump’s inauguration, to which he responded: “You’re a daredevil girl! What can I say!” Butina replied: “Good teachers!” Meanwhile, she had been dating a 56-year-old American — identified in court papers as “US Person 1,” but believed to be South Dakota GOP operative Paul Erickson — in order to gain access to his network of influential politicos and “an organization promoting gun rights.”
Erickson — who has worked on several presidential campaigns and was also the one-time press agent for involuntary-penis-amputee John Wayne Bobbitt — has ties to the National Rifle Association.
But Butina treated their relationship “as simply a necessary aspect of her activities” — and tried to bed at least one other American for influence, prosecutors claim.
“On at least one occasion, Butina offered an individual other than US Person 1 sex in exchange for a position within a special-interest organization,” they said in court papers.
“Further, in papers seized by the FBI, Butina complained about living with US Person 1 and expressed disdain for continuing to cohabitate with US Person 1.”
Prosecutors also shared alleged correspondence from Person 1 suggesting “important” contacts in the US for a “time when the political situation between the US and Russia will change” and who would be sure to impress Butina’s “special friends.”
On Oct. 4, 2016, the man allegedly sent an e-mail to an acquaintance saying he was involved in “securing a VERY private line of communication between the Kremlin” and his political party through the“gunrights organiz at ion.” rganiza ti on .”
Butina was arrested Sunday night because she appeared to be making a run for it, the feds say. The lease on her apartment was almost up and she already had her bags packed.
But a spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday claimed the accusations against Butina were just “Russophobic hysteria” and her arrest was deliberately timed to discredit the summit between President Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin this week.
“You have the impression that someone must have grabbed a watch and a calculator to determine when the decision on Butina’s arrest should be made in order to undermine the outcomes of the summit,” spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. Butina faces up to 10 yearsars behind bars.