US arrests woman it accuses of acting as Russian agent
WASHINGTON: A 29-year-old gun-rights activist served as a covert Russian agent while living in Washington, gathering intelligence on American officials and political organisations and working to establish back-channel lines of communications for the Kremlin, federal prosecutors charged on Monday.
The announcement of the arrest of Maria Butina came just hours after President Donald Trump met with 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.
Mr Mueller didn’t file the charge against Ms Butina, but court papers show her activities revolved around American politics during the 2016 campaign and included efforts to use contacts with the National Rifle Association to develop relationships with US politicians and gather intelligence for Russia.
Court papers also reveal that an unnamed American who worked with Ms Butina claimed to have been involved in setting up a “private line of communication’’ ahead of the 2016 election between the Kremlin and “key’’ officials in an American political party through the NRA.
The NRA, which has previously been connected to Ms Butina in public reporting and information released by members of Congress, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Ms Butina, a Russian national who has been living in the US, was charged with conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of the Russian government. A federal judge in Washington ordered her jailed until a hearing set for today, according to a statement from the Justice Department and Jessie Liu, the US Attorney for the District of Columbia.
In a statement, Ms Butina’s attorney, Robert Driscoll, called the allegations “overblown’’ and said prosecutors had criminalised mundane networking opportunities. Mr Driscoll said Ms Butina was not an agent of the Russian Federation but was instead in the US on a student visa, graduating from American University with a master’s degree in international relations.