Tale of sex, deception emerges about suspected Russian agent
WASHINGTON — A 29year-old gun-rights activist suspected of being a covert Russian agent was likely in contact with Kremlin operatives while living in the United States as part of a “yearslong” conspiracy, prosecutors said Wednesday, accusing her of using sex and deception to forge influential connections.
The woman, Maria Butina, was photographed by the FBI dining privately with a Russian diplomat suspected of being an intelligence operative in the weeks before the envoy’s departure from the U.S. last March, prosecutorssay. She also had contact information for people who investigators believe were employees of Russia’s Federal Security Services, or FSB, the successor intelligence agency to the KGB.
The allegations, made in court filings aimed at persuading a judge to keep Ms. Butina in custody, explicitly link Ms. Butina to Russia’s intelligence services for the first time, adding to the portrait of a Russian woman who the Justice Department says worked covertly to establish back-channel lines of communication to the Kremlin and infiltrate U.S. political organizations, including the National Rifle Association, and gather intelligence for a senior Russian official towhom she reported.
Prosecutors also alleged that she had a personal relationship with an American political operative and offered sex to another person in exchange for a position with a specialinterest organization.
Court papers do not name the individuals or the special interest group.
Ms. Butina is the latest Russian to be charged in an expanding investigation that on Friday led to the indictment of 12 Russian military intelligence officers who allegedly stole and disseminated emails from Democratic groups. The investigation into Ms. Butina’s activities began before Robert Mueller was brought on as special counsel in May 2017 and is being handled by the Justice Department’s nationalsecurity unit.
Ms. Butina pleaded not guilty Wednesday during a hearing in which U.S. Magistrate Deborah Robinson ordered her held in jail as the case moves forward, saying she was a flight risk.
After the hearing, Ms. Butina’s attorney, Robert Driscoll, told reporters his client respected but strongly disagreed with the judge’s decision.
“She’s been aware of a criminal investigation into her conduct for months and made no attempt to flee,” Mr. Driscoll said, saying Ms. Butina was not a Russian agent but rather a “young student seeking to make her way in America.”
Prosecutors revealed Wednesday that after executing a search warrant at her Washington home in April, they learned Ms. Butina “was in contact with officials believed to be Russian intelligence operatives.” Citing her intelligence ties, the government is arguing that Ms. Butina poses an “extreme” risk of fleeing the U.S., where she has been living on a student visa. In seeking her detention, prosecutors said Ms. Butina’s “legal status in the United States is predicated ondeception.”
Mr. Driscoll has denied that Ms. Butina is a Russian agent.