Maria Butina, a Russian woman trying to build ties with the leadership of the National Rifle Association, was charged in Washington on Monday with being a counter-intelligence agent of the Russian Federation.
The 29-year-old-woman, co-founder of the Russian gun-rights group “Right to Bear Arms,” was arrested a day earlier and appeared in U.S. District Court before Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson, where she was ordered held without bond.
The affidavit attached to a criminal complaint filed in the court said that Butina “took steps to develop relationships with American politicians in order to establish private, or as she called them, ‘back channel’ lines of communication.”
It adds that the Russian Federation could then use these ties “to penetrate the U.S. national decision-making apparatus to advance the agenda of the Russian Federation.”
The case against Butina was not brought by special counsel Robert Mueller and is not part of his investigation, so it is unclear whether it has any connection to the broader investigation into Russian meddling in the presidential campaign.
Butina is awaiting a hearing due to take place later this week, a press release by the Justice Department said. She denied the charges through an attorney, who said the complaint against her was “overblown” and added Butina will defend her rights and will clear her name. The attorney also claimed there was no “indication of Butina seeking to influence or undermine any specific policy or law in the United States.”
However, the FBI said in the affidavit that Butina came to the U.S. under the direction of an unnamed Russian official, most likely her longtime mentor and close ally of the Russian president, Alexander Torshin.
The Washington Post writes that she was allegedly assisted in her efforts by a U.S. political operative, who was not charged or named in court papers but appears to be Paul Erickson, a Republican consultant who sought in 2016 to organize a meeting between then-candidate Donald Trump and Torshin.
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