Maria Butina

Uncommon card · No. 178057

Maria Valerievna Butina (Russian: Мари́я Вале́рьевна Бу́тина; 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. 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. In this role, she allegedly tried 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. The Senate Intelligence Committee later concluded that she attempted to persuade the Trump campaign to establish a secret communications back channel with Russia. 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...

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