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Also see: Sergey Kislyak; NRA; Jared Kushner; backchannels; Alexander Torshin;
Jump to: 2018; 2019;
Undated: Maria Valeryevna Butina (born November 10, 1988; also transliterated as Mariia)[3][4][5] is a Russian gun-rights activist. She is the founder of "Right to Bear Arms", a Russian group.[6] Beginning in 2011, she worked for Aleksandr Torshin, a former member of the Federation Council, a member of Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party, and a deputy governor of the Central Bank of Russia.[7] In April 2018, Butina told the Senate Intelligence Committee that Konstantin Nikolaev, a Russian billionaire, provided funding for her gun-rights group.[8] In July 2018, while residing in Washington, D.C., Butina was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and charged with acting as an agent of the Russian Federation "without prior notification to the Attorney General."[9] In December 2018, she pled guilty to felony charges of conspiracy to act as an unregistered foreign agent of the Russian state under 18 U.S.C. §951.[10][11][12][13]
In a June 2015 article published in The National Interest, a conservative American international affairs magazine, just before Trump announced his candidacy for president, she urged better relations between the United States and Russia,[29] saying, "It may take the election of a Republican to the White House in 2016 to improve relations between the Russian Federation and the United States." Her biography on the article did not mention that she worked for the Russian government.[18] The next month, Butina attended FreedomFest, where Trump gave a speech, and asked him from the audience about ending U.S. sanctions against Russia, to which he replied, "I don't think you'd need the sanctions."[18][39] Butina hosted a birthday party attended by Erickson and Trump campaign aides shortly after the 2016 election.[29]
After President Putin had denied any knowledge of Butina,[52] his Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov commented at length on her plea deal.[53] Lavrov made a statement saying that Butina's arrest was designed to undermine the "positive results" of the Helsinki summit between US President Trump and Russian President Putin. She was arrested a day before the President Trump met his Russian counterpart.[27] Butina's father has called the accusations against her "psychopathy and a witch-hunt".[54] Leonid Slutsky, head of the lower house of the Russian parliament's foreign affairs committee, called Butina's case a "modern political inquisition".[55] Russia's Foreign Ministry accused the United States of forcing false confession from Butina.[56] According to the Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova, "Having created unbearable conditions for her and threatening her with a long jail sentence, she was literally forced to sign up to absolutely ridiculous charges."[57]
Four former intelligence agents familiar with Russian espionage investigations spoke to USA Today about Butina’s case. Jack Devine, a high-ranking former CIA agent said, "That does not fit any spy that I can think of." He meant that she was what was called a "spotter", an individual who gains access to a high-ranking official through a political cause and then sends any information to powerful foreign officials. Former FBI Special Agent Ed Shaw said that Trump "and his administration are the target and groups that are related to the administration, or seek to influence the administration, are the means" for Russian agents to access classified information.[58]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Butina
-- 2018 --
March/April: The Very Strange Case of Two Russian Gun Lovers, the NRA, and Donald Trump
For more than a year, reports have trickled out about deepening ties among prominent members of the National Rifle Association, conservative Republicans, a budding gun-rights movement in Russia—and their convergence in the Trump campaign.
Now attention is focused around a middle-aged Russian central bank official and a photogenic young gun activist from Siberia who share several passions: posing with assault rifles, making connections with Republican lawmakers and presidential candidates, and publicizing their travels between Moscow and America on social media. Alexander Torshin and his protégé Maria Butina also share an extraordinary status with America’s largest gun lobbying group, according to Torshin: “Today in NRA (USA) I know only 2 people from the Russian Federation with the status of ‘Life Member’: Maria Butina and I,” he tweeted the day after Donald Trump was elected president.
Of particular interest are their overtures to Trump. Butina asked him directly at a campaign event about the future of “damaging” sanctions against Russia. Torshin twice tried to meet with Trump, according to the New York Times, and did meet with Donald Trump Jr. at an NRA event. Meanwhile, the House Intelligence Committee has heard sworn testimony about possible Kremlin “infiltration” of the NRA and other conservative groups. And the FBI reportedly is investigating whether Torshin illegally funneled money to the Trump campaign through the NRA—which backed Trump with a record $30 million.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/03/trump-russia-nra-connection-maria-butina-alexander-torshin-guns/
July 18: Accused spy Maria Butina met with Russia's former US ambassador
The woman charged with spying for Moscow in the US met previously with the former Russian ambassador to Washington whose contacts with Trump advisers have raised concerns among investigators.
Photographs of Maria Butina with Sergey Kislyak were among the files taken from Butina’s electronic devices by FBI agents, according to prosecutors. The date of the photographs was not specified.
Erik Kenerson, the assistant US attorney, has cited Butina’s encounter with Kislyak as proof that she was in touch with diplomatic or consular officials and must be detained while awaiting trial.
“If Ms Butina decides to go to any sort of embassy, diplomatic mission, gets put in a diplomatic car that has been so registered with the department of state, there is nothing at that point anyone in law enforcement can do to get her,” Kenerson told a court in Washington on Wednesday.
In May last year it was reported that Kislyak had been heard by US spies telling Moscow that Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a senior White House adviser, had proposed setting up a back channel for private conversations between Russian officials and Trump’s team during the final weeks of Barack Obama’s presidency.
US authorities allege that Butina worked to infiltrate the National Rifle Association (NRA) as part of an operation to influence the Republican party and set up secret communications with American politicians. They have pointed to emails and other electronic messages in which Butina allegedly described her efforts in detail.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/19/maria-butina-russia-spying-sergey-kislyak-ambassador-meeting
July 24: Maria Butina's Own Words Belie Claim That Charges Are 'Trumped up'
https://www.polygraph.info/a/maria-butina-lavrov-trumped-up/29387925.html
September 8: Government erred in claiming accused Russian spy Maria Butina offered to trade sex for political access
Prosecutors said Friday that they misunderstood text messages used as the basis of a claim that Maria Butina offered to trade sex for access -- an extraordinary admission that threatens to undercut the government's cloak-and-dagger portrayal of the young Russian accused of working to infiltrate American political circles.
"Even granting that the government's understanding of this particular text conversation was mistaken, other communications and materials in the government's possession (and produced to the defense) call into doubt the defendant's claim that her relationship with U.S. Person 1 [boyfriend Paul Erickson] is a sufficiently strong tie to ensure her appearance in court to face the charges against her if she is released," according to the government's filing.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/08/politics/maria-butina-court-filing/index.html
December 10: NRA leader, Jack Abramoff and GOP operative tied to alleged Russian spy Maria Butina have long history as foreign agents lobbying together
Alleged Russian spy Maria Butina has changed her plea to guilty, according to a new joint motion filed by her attorneys this morning.
As her attorneys were negotiating the plea deal, her partner, GOP operative Paul Erickson, lawyered up in light of reports swirling that he too may be targeted by federal prosecutors as a covert Russian agent.
https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/12/nra-leader-jack-abramoff-gop-operative-russian-spy-maria-butina-lobbying/
December 11: What made accused Russian spy Maria Butina different
Russian spy tactics are aggressive but, to those who know them, familiar.
Schmoozing with political operatives, cultivating an elaborate backstory, using a fake name to mask Russian roots – these are standard aspects of Russian espionage. They typically assume roles as professors, students, business owners – anything that lets them gain information but not draw attention.
That's why accused Russian spy Maria Butina, 30, an unapologetically Russian gun-rights activist who gravitated toward publicity and the National Rifle Association, baffles some ex-intelligence officials with decades working counterintelligence for the FBI and CIA.
Butina, who initially pleaded not guilty, is expected to plead guilty Thursday to conspiracy over the allegation she worked for Russia without informing the U.S. government. A conviction could result in a five-year prison sentence, but prosecutors estimated a six-month sentence, according to CNN.
Butina's July 15 arrest came more than three years after the FBI claims she began her mission. She's been sitting in a Virginia jail cell ever since.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2018/12/11/there-many-russian-spy-tactics-notoriety-made-butina-different/2275741002/
December 13: Maria Butina Pleads Guilty In Foreign Agent Case, Admits Clandestine Influence Scheme
A Russian woman who schemed to build back-channel ties between the Russian government and the Trump campaign pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday to conspiring to act as a clandestine foreign agent.
Maria Butina also sought to connect Moscow unofficially with other parts of the conservative establishment, including the National Rifle Association and the National Prayer Breakfast.
She was arrested over the summer after having been monitored by the FBI, including in meetings in Washington, D.C., with Russian officials. Butina also had materials that suggested she was in contact with Russia's domestic intelligence service, the FSB, prosecutors said.
https://www.npr.org/2018/12/13/676406084/maria-butina-guilty-in-foreign-agent-case-admits-clandestine-influence-scheme
December 27: Maria Butina’s Dad: ‘Someone Snitched on Her’
Moscow’s state media would have you believe Maria Butina, a confessed agent of influence, was a self-styled seductress and spy.
She admitted to acting under the direction of a Russian official, Alexander Torshin. She faces a maximum of five years in prison, but is likely to receive zero to six months based on her plea agreement.
Channel One host Malakhov asked Maria Butina’s father about his daughter’s means of support in America. Valery Butin reluctantly admitted: “She had influential acquaintances who recognized her abilities and were helping her financially.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/maria-butinas-red-sparrow-makeover-revealed-on-russian-tv
-- 2019 --
January 17: Maria Butina 'wanted to influence society,' sister says
The parents of Russian operative Maria Butina have revealed that she became interested in guns as a girl and say they can't believe she knowingly worked on behalf of the Kremlin.
Butina, 30, last month pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as an undisclosed agent of Russia in the U.S. She also agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors.
The pro-guns rights activist had spent years building connections in American political circles and with influential conservative groups including the National Rifle Association in an effort to push Moscow’s agenda.
The charge against Butina was brought by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, unrelated to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
In pleading guilty, Butina admitted to working with her Republican operative boyfriend Paul Erickson — identified in court papers as as "U.S. Person 1" — at the behest of a Russian official in order "to establish unofficial lines of communication with Americans having power and influence over U.S. politics … for the benefit of the Russian Federation."
Erickson has not been charged.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/maria-butina-wanted-influence-society-sister-says-n959661
February 15: Senate Panel Launches Bipartisan Probe Into Think Tank Linked To Butina, Torshin
In a letter to Dimitri Simes, the CEO of the Center for the National Interest think tank, the committee requested records related to meetings Torshin and Butina had in 2015 with the Federal Reserve vice chairman and the Treasury Department undersecretary for international affairs.
Republican Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Democratic ranking member Ron Wyden of Oregon also sent letters to the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve to find out more about these meetings and to receive more details about their policies regarding meeting with foreign officials.
https://www.npr.org/2019/02/15/695295458/senate-panel-launches-bipartisan-probe-into-think-tank-linked-to-butina-torshin
April 26: A federal judge sentenced Russia national Maria Butina to 18 months in prison on Friday, after she pleaded guilty to trying to infiltrate conservative political circles and promote Russian interests before and after the 2016 presidential election.
She is the first Russian citizen convicted of crimes relating to the 2016 election, though her efforts to infiltrate Republican circles appeared to be separate from the Kremlin's sweeping election-meddling campaign detailed in special counsel Robert Mueller's report.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/26/politics/maria-butina-sentencing/index.html
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