Russian ‘agent’ held on charges of seeking to infiltrate US gov’t

WASHINGTON – Agence France-Presse

A Russian gun rights enthusiast who built a network of powerful Republican contacts under the direction of a Kremlin power-broker was ordered held without bond on July 18 after FBI counterintelligence agents accused her of conspiring to infiltrate the U.S. government.

U.S. prosecutors said Maria Butina, 29, exploited her close links with the powerful NRA gun lobby while posing as a visiting graduate student to endear herself with senior Republicans, guided by one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s major political supporters, Alexander Torshin.

Butina was charged in the Washington federal court with acting illegally as an unregistered agent for the Russian government while she lived in Washington over the past three years with her boyfriend, a veteran Republican operative.

They called Butina a “covert Russian agent” who maintained contacts with Russian spies and pursued a mission “to penetrate the U.S. national decision-making apparatus to advance the agenda of the Russian Federation.”

That included offering sex to get a job in a U.S. lobbying group, according to documents filed in court by the Department of Justice.

Butina pleaded not guilty to two criminal charges of conspiring to act as a foreign agent without registering, and acting as a foreign agent. The first charge brings a maximum five years in prison, while the second carries a maximum 10 years.