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Maria Butina
Russian activist and convicted spy (born 1988) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Maria Valerievna Butina[lower-alpha 1] (Russian: Мария Валерьевна Бутина; born 10 November 1988) is a Russian politician, political activist, journalist, and former entrepreneur who was convicted in 2018 of acting as an unregistered foreign agent of Russia within the United States.[1][2][3]
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Maria Butina | |
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Мария Бутина | |
![]() Attending a meeting of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs | |
Member of the State Duma (Party List Seat) | |
Assumed office 12 October 2021 | |
Personal details | |
Born | 10 November 1988 (1988-11-10) (age 35) Barnaul, Altai Krai, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
Political party | United Russia |
Parent |
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Education | |
Criminal status | Released (25 October 2019) |
Conviction(s) | Conspiracy to Act as an Agent of a Foreign Government (1 count, 26 April 2019) |
Criminal charge | 18 U.S.C. § 951 Conspiracy to Act as an Agent of a Foreign Government (5 counts) |
Penalty | 18 months in prison |
Date apprehended | 15 July 2018 |
Butina worked as an assistant for Aleksandr Torshin, a former member of the Federation Council, member of Vladimir Putin's United Russia party, and deputy governor of the Central Bank of Russia.[4] In this role, she worked to infiltrate conservative groups in the US, including the National Rifle Association, as part of an effort to promote Russian interests in the 2016 United States presidential election.[4][5][6] The Senate Intelligence Committee later concluded that she attempted to persuade the Trump campaign to establish a secret communications back channel with Russia.[7]
In July 2018, while residing in Washington, D.C., Butina was arrested by the FBI and charged with acting as an agent of the Russian Federation "without prior notification to the Attorney General."[8] In December 2018, she pleaded guilty to felony charges of conspiracy to act as an unregistered foreign agent of the Russian state under 18 U.S.C. §951.[9][10][11][12][13] In April 2019, a federal judge sentenced her to 18 months in prison.[14] She served around five months at Tallahassee Federal Correctional Institution. Her 9-month pretrial prison term[15] was counted towards her sentence. She was released and deported back to Russia in October 2019.[16] She publicly denied being a Russian spy.[17] In 2021, she was elected to the State Duma as a member of United Russia.