12-13-2018, 01:21 PM
Maria Butina Pleads Guilty to Conspiring against the U.S. on Behalf of Kremlin
Russian agent Maria Butina pleaded guilty today to conspiring with a senior Russian official to infiltrate the U.S. conservative movement for the Kremlin from 2015 until her arrest in July 2017.
Butina became the first Russian national convicted of seeking to influence U.S. policy in the run-up and through the 2016 election as a foreign agent, agreeing to cooperate in a plea deal with U.S. investigators in exchange for less prison time.
As part of her plea, Butina admitted seeking to establish and use “unofficial lines of communication with Americans having influence over U.S. politics” for the benefit of the Russian government, through a person fitting the description of sanctioned Russian central banker Alexander Torshin, prosecutor Erik Kenerson said.
In plea documents read by prosecutors in court Thursday, Butina admittedto undertaking a multiyear influence campaign coordinated through Torshin, a top Russian official, that she proposed in March 2015 as multiyear “Diplomacy Project.”
The Project included hosting “friendship dinners” with wealthy Americans, bonding with NRA leaders and organizing a Russian delegation to the influential National Prayer Breakfast in Washington.
Butina’s efforts, which continued after she moved to Washington as a graduate student at American University in 2016, included asking whether the Russian government was ready to meet her contacts.
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Russian agent Maria Butina pleaded guilty today to conspiring with a senior Russian official to infiltrate the U.S. conservative movement for the Kremlin from 2015 until her arrest in July 2017.
Butina became the first Russian national convicted of seeking to influence U.S. policy in the run-up and through the 2016 election as a foreign agent, agreeing to cooperate in a plea deal with U.S. investigators in exchange for less prison time.
As part of her plea, Butina admitted seeking to establish and use “unofficial lines of communication with Americans having influence over U.S. politics” for the benefit of the Russian government, through a person fitting the description of sanctioned Russian central banker Alexander Torshin, prosecutor Erik Kenerson said.
In plea documents read by prosecutors in court Thursday, Butina admittedto undertaking a multiyear influence campaign coordinated through Torshin, a top Russian official, that she proposed in March 2015 as multiyear “Diplomacy Project.”
The Project included hosting “friendship dinners” with wealthy Americans, bonding with NRA leaders and organizing a Russian delegation to the influential National Prayer Breakfast in Washington.
Butina’s efforts, which continued after she moved to Washington as a graduate student at American University in 2016, included asking whether the Russian government was ready to meet her contacts.
(continued)