Maria Butina, a 29-year-old Russian woman, made a name for herself among American conservatives after advocating for loosening restrictions on gun ownership in her home country.
Having just earned a Master’s Degree at American University in Washington, DC, she was arrested Sunday and charged with being part of conspiracy to act as a foreign agent without registering with the Justice Department (DOJ).
Assistant Attorney General John Demers, who heads the DOJ’s National Security Division, announced the criminal complaint against Butina Monday and released a 17-page FBI agent’s affidavit alleging that Butina has been in contact with another Russian described as former legislator and now “a high-level official in the Russian government.”
Butina, according to the FBI agent’s claims, served as a special assistant to this official before she moved to the United States on a student visa. This official is one of those on whom Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin placed severe sanctions in April. Reporting by the Daily Caller’s Chuck Ross strongly suggests the official is Aleksandr Torshin, deputy head of the Russian Central Bank.
According to the allegations, Butina moved in Republican and conservative circles in Washington, attending events like the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and the National Prayer Breakfast, and building contacts with a “Gun Rights Organization” that, given other information described in the affidavit, could only be the National Rifle Association (NRA).
The alleged conspiracy involves at least two Americans from the Republican political world. The communications between Butina, these two unnamed Americans, and the unnamed Russian official suggest they all sought to improve relations between the Russian Federation at the United States and that they saw the Republican party as a more fruitful path to do so than the Democrats.
This preference was clear from at least June 12, 2015 — four days before Donald Trump first announced his intention to seek the GOP nomination — when Butina wrote an op-ed for the Washington-based foreign policy journal the National Interest, arguing Republicans and Russia would make good diplomatic partners.
Butina, the Americans, and the Russian official allegedly worked to organize a meeting of influential Russians with ties to President Vladimir Putin and American conservatives at the 2017 National Prayer Breakfast. The Russian official allegedly stresses the need to avoid the appearance of any official Russian government organizing effort. Butina allegedly suggested including clergy from the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian ambassador to the U.S.
Butina and one of the Americans allegedly suggesedt their aims included creating a “back channel” between, as the American put it in an email to another person in October 2016, “the Kremlin and key [Republican] leaders through, of all conduits, the [NRA.]” Other communications between Butina and the Russian official repeatedly suggest they believed Republicans would make better potential partners on issues like fighting ISIS than Democrats. Given her involvement in the gun rights movement, this placed Butina well to become more influential if the GOP won the 2016 election. Much of the advice the Americans and the Russian official gave Butina had to do with steps to build her star in American conservative circles.
These identified communications were not of a particularly clandestine nature, being done over normal Twitter direct messages and email, although allusions are made to encrypted services like WhatsApp.
The Justice Department believes the above constitutes a conspiracy to act as an agent for the Russian government without registering as such, a violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), a rarely used law under which Paul Manafort is also charged in two unrelated cases.
Butina will remain in jail at least until her arrangement Wednesday and faces up to five years in prison on this charge and a catch-all “conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government” charge stemming from the same facts.
Butina, through her lawyer, Robert Driscoll, denies the allegations. “Maria Butina is not an agent of the Russian Federation,” Driscoll said in a statement after Butina’s initial appearence.
“The substance of the charge in the complaint is overblown,” Driscoll continues, denying any “nefarious act.”
“While styled as some sort of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agent Registration Act, in actuality it describes a conspiracy to have a ‘friendship dinner’ at Bistro Bis with a group of Americans and Russians to discuss foreign relations between the two countries.”
Driscoll also confirmed that Butina has been cooperating with Congress and the FBI for months on the matter, claiming she testified for eight hours in a closed door House Intelligence Committee hearing on the matter and provided “thousands” of documents.
The timing of the arrest corresponds perfectly with President Trump’s Helsinki summit with Russian President Putin. As Butina was having her initial appearance the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse in Washington, DC, Democrats, former intelligence officials, left-leaning media figures, and Never Trump Republicans were tearing into President Trump for conducting himself with the Russians in a way they did not feel was confrontational enough.
Butina founded The Right to Bear Arms, a pro-gun group in Russia, in 2011. She first entered the public eye in America a year later when leftist Russian-American journalist Julia Ioffe featured her in a New Republic article about “Russian gun nuts” called “Crackpots and Kalashnikovs.”
After Butina attended the 2014 NRA convention, she found a much warmer reception with the American Right. The then-25-year old redhead from Siberia quickly made waves in American pro-gun circles. For example, Townhall’s Katie Pavlich devoted a two-part feature to her interview with Butina on the pro-gun victories Butina’s group had secured in Russia. At some point thereafter, Butina secured a student visa to study for a Master’s degree at American University and continued to be involved in the American gun rights scene along with Torshin who is also reportedly an NRA member.
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