Maria Butina, a former graduate student at American University in Washington who publicly advocated for gun rights, entered the plea at a hearing in Washington before US District Judge Tanya Chutkan. Butina, who was jailed after being charged in July and initially pleaded not guilty, also agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
Clad in a green jumpsuit with her red hair pulled back in a long braid, Butina replied “absolutely” when asked by Chutkan if her mind was clear as she prepared to plead guilty to conspiracy to act as a foreign agent. Prosecutors dropped one other charge as part of the plea deal.
Butina on Thursday admitted to conspiring to work with a Russian official and two US citizens as a Russian agent from 2015 until her July arrest to infiltrate the National Rifle Association, a group closely aligned with Republican politicians including Republican President Donald Trump and US conservatives, and sway Washington’s policy toward Moscow.
A courtroom sketch shows Maria Butina, centre, before US District Judge Tanya Chutkan. Source: AAP
Butina represents the first Russian citizen to be convicted of working to shape US policy in the time period spanning the 2016 election campaign, though others have been charged in a separate investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
The actions Butina acknowledged taking occurred during the same time period that US intelligence agencies have concluded Russia engaged in a campaign of propaganda and hacking to sow discord in the United States during the 2016 presidential race and boost Republican candidate Trump’s chances against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
Maria Butina attending a meeting of expert group at the Russian Government in Moscow, Russia Source: AAP
Butina’s lawyers previously identified the Russian official as Alexander Torshin, who was a deputy governor of Russia’s central bank and was targeted with US Treasury Department sanctions in April. One of the two Americans referenced in the prosecution’s criminal complaint was Paul Erickson, a conservative US political activist who was romantically linked to Butina.
Although there are no sentencing guidelines for her specific crime, her lawyer, Robert Driscoll, estimated that under US sentencing guidelines for similar crimes Butina could face up to six months in prison. Butina also faces possible deportation to Russia after she finishes her sentence.
Because of Butina’s ongoing cooperation, the judge did not set a sentencing date but scheduled a status hearing for Feb. 12.
Leonid Slutsky, head of the lower house of the Russian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, reacted to Butina’s case by calling it a “modern political inquisition,” in comments quoted by the RIA news agency.
In the statement of offense read aloud in court, one of the prosecutors said Butina drafted a March 2015 “Diplomacy Project” that called for establishing unofficial back channels of communication between high-ranking American politicians in order to help advance Russia’s interests.
Erickson’s description appears to match “Person 1” mentioned in the statement of offense. Person 1 helped advise Butina on which American politicians she should target for meetings, and her plan was carried out on behalf of the Russian official, the statement said.
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