USA TODAY International Edition
Accused Russian seeks plea change
Move could mean a deal, details of covert action
WASHINGTON – Maria Butina, a Russian national charged with conspiracy and acting as the agent of a foreign government, joined prosecutors Monday in asking a judge to schedule a hearing for her to change her plea.
Butina had pleaded innocent in the case in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. She has been jailed since July, largely in solitary confinement. But now lawyers for both sides are asking for a plea hearing Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.
“The parties have resolved this matter,” the two-page filing said.
The latest court filing suggests that Butina could be preparing to plead guilty to charges involving what prosecutors claim were efforts to infiltrate U.S. political organizations in order to advance Russia’s interests.
A plea deal could shed further light on her activities.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan appointed public defender A.J. Kramer as an advisory counsel to Butina without further explanation. The move came after Chutkan held a phone conference with Butina’s defense lawyers, Robert Driscoll and Alfred Carry, and assistant U.S. attorneys Erik Kenreson and Thomas Saunders.
The case against Butina was filed by the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and is unrelated to Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Butina, who entered the United States in 2016 on a student visa, has been jailed as a flight risk without bond in Alexandria, Virginia, since her arrest in July.
The Russian Embassy has called repeatedly for her release, most recently on Thursday. Butina is accused of engaging in a years-long campaign as a covert agent for the Kremlin in an attempt to “advance the interests of her home country.”