Maria Butina | |
|---|---|
Мария Бутина | |
 Butina at a meeting of the State Duma in November 2019 | |
| Member of the State Duma | |
| Assumed office 12 October 2021 | |
| Constituency | Kirov Oblast at-large |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Maria Valeryevna Butina November 10, 1988 Barnaul, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Political party | United Russia |
| Education | Altai State University (BA) American University (MIA) |
Date apprehended | July 15, 2018 |
| Criminal charges | 18 U.S.C. § 951 (Conspiracy to act as an unregistered foreign agent of the Russian state (April 26, 2019)) |
| Criminal penalty | 18 months in prison |
| Criminal status | Released (October 25, 2019) |
Maria Valeryevna Butina (Russian: Мари́я Вале́рьевна Бу́тина, sometimes transliterated as Mariya Butina; born November 10, 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]
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.
Butina was born on November 10, 1988, in the Siberian city of Barnaul, in Altai Krai, about 210 miles (340 km) east of the present Kazakhstan–Russia border. Her mother was the chief engineer of an energy enterprise and her father Valery Viktorovich Butin was an entrepreneur who established a furniture manufacturing business in Barnaul. She has one sister and one maternal niece, Kira.[18][19]
She graduated with honors at the age of 17 from Gymnasium Number 22 with in-depth study of the English language, and from school years she strove for active public activity.[20] She studied political science at Altai State University and also received a teaching degree. At age 19, she was elected to the public council of Altai Krai in the last direct election for the council.[18][21]
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Butina, at age 21, launched a furniture retail business in Altai Krai.[18] In 2011, she moved to Moscow and sold six of her seven furniture stores to start an advertising agency.[18][22]
Further in 2011, Butina founded Right to Bear Arms (Russian: Право на оружие), described as a Russian gun-rights organization.[23] She began traveling back and forth to the US, initially with Aleksandr Torshin,[22] who was then a Senator in the Federation Council of Russia (and a half-month later became Acting Chairman/Speaker of this Senate of Russian Federation) and a leading member of United Russia.[22] He had hired her as his "special assistant" that year.[4] In 2012, they lobbied the council to expand gun rights.[23] Butina resigned from her position as the head of Right to Bear Arms in late 2014.[24]
According to Russians interviewed by RFE/RL, the organization was notable for avoiding opposition to Putin during the 2011–2013 Russian protests, for its "quixotic" support for a cause with little public support and strong government opposition – Putin himself had told Russians "I am deeply convinced that the free flow of firearms will bring a great harm and represents a great danger for us" – for introducing legislation in the Russian parliament that "never went anywhere", and for receding from public view after Butina stepped down as its head.[25] According to US prosecutors who prosecuted Butina on charges of conspiracy and acting as a foreign agent, her love of guns was a ruse to advance Russia's agenda within the Republican Party.[4] Anders Åslund described Right to Bear Arms as a "front organization with the purpose of infiltrating American groups and forging cooperation with the National Rifle Association of America."[26]
In 2013, she met Republican political operative Paul Erickson in Russia. The two became close, started dating, and eventually moved in together. In 2015, she emailed him a description of a proposed project to influence the Republican Party to be friendlier to Russia, through the NRA.[11] In January 2015, Torshin became deputy governor of the Central Bank of Russia, and Butina worked as his special assistant until May 2017.[6][27] In 2017, Butina told The Washington Post that she never worked for the Russian government.[28]
In August 2016, she moved to the US on a student visa, and enrolled as a graduate student in International Relations at American University in Washington, D.C.[29] While a student at American University, Butina got drunk on at least two separate occasions and bragged to her fellow students about her contacts in the Russian government; on both occasions, her classmates reported her to law enforcement, sources told CNN.[30]
In February 2016, Butina and Erickson began a South Dakota business, Bridges LLC.[27][31] Erickson later said the company was established in case Butina needed any monetary assistance for her graduate studies, which Butina commenced in mid-2016 American University in Washington, D.C.[32] In 2018, she completed a master's degree in international relations.[33]
As part of her work as a foreign agent, Butina worked to infiltrate the National Rifle Association on behalf of Russia.[5][34][35]
Torshin and Butina established a cooperative relationship between the NRA and Right to Bear Arms. Torshin has attended NRA annual meetings in the United States since at least 2011. Following the 2011 meeting, then NRA President David Keene expressed his support for Torshin's "endeavors" and extended an invitation to the 2012 meeting.[36] Torshin also attended NRA annual meetings in 2012 and 2013.[37]
Butina and Torshin attended the 2014 NRA annual meeting as special guests of former NRA president Keene.[27][38] Butina attended the Women's Leadership Luncheon at the 2014 meeting as a guest of former NRA president Sandy Froman.[28][38] Butina presented to then NRA president Jim Porter a plaque from Right to Bear Arms. Afterwards, she tweeted "Mission accomplished". Butina and Torshin also attended the 2015 NRA annual convention.[39]
In 2015, a number of NRA officials attended Right to Bear Arms's annual gun conference in Russia. Among them were Keene, gun manufacturer and NRA first vice president Pete Brownell,[40] conservative American political operative Paul Erickson, and Milwaukee County sheriff David Clarke. One of their hosts was Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who in 2014 was sanctioned by the White House following Russia's annexation of Crimea. Clarke's trip cost $40,000, with all expenses paid by the NRA, Pete Brownell (an NRA board member and CEO of a gun-parts supply company) and Right to Bear Arms.[28][41][42] According to a disclosure Clarke filed, Right to Bear Arms paid $6,000 to cover his meals, lodging, transportation and other expenses.[22] During the meeting, Clarke met the Russian foreign minister and attended a conference at which Torshin spoke.[28][42] In November 2016, Torshin tweeted that he and Butina were lifetime NRA members.[37][43]
Butina has attempted to develop ties to conservative American politics. In a supporting affidavit to the government's support for pre-trial detention following her indictment in United States of America v. Maria Butina, the FBI stated that she had successfully sought ties to the Republican Party, where it is referred to as "POLITICAL PARTY 1".[3] According to The Daily Beast, she has presented herself as a "Russian central bank staffer, a leading gun rights advocate, a 'representative of the Russian Federation,' a Washington, D.C. graduate student, a journalist, and a connection between Team Trump and Russia" in order to gain access to "high-level contacts" in Washington.[27] At the 2014 NRA annual meeting, Butina took pictures with Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and former U.S. Senator and 2016 presidential candidate Rick Santorum.
In 2015, Torshin, then the Russian Central Bank deputy governor, and Butina met the Treasury undersecretary for international affairs, Nathan Sheets, to discuss U.S.-Russian economic relations.[44] Separately, they also met with a Federal Reserve vice chairman, Stanley Fischer, and with a State Department official.[44][45][46]
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,[37] 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." 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."[47] Butina hosted a birthday party attended by Erickson and Trump campaign aides shortly after the 2016 election.[37][a]
Butina was in a relationship with Overstock.com CEO and Trump conspiracy theorist Patrick M. Byrne. Byrne claimed the FBI encouraged him to pursue Butina, a claim retired FBI officials denied.[50] In 2019, Byrne divested himself of all shares of Overstock after his relationship with Butina was revealed.[51]
For five years, prosecutors claimed, Butina lived with and maintained an intimate relationship with activist and fraudster Paul Erickson. During Donald Trump's presidential campaign in 2016, Erickson attempted to develop a back-channel between the NRA and the Russian government. Erickson was jailed and convicted of fraud unrelated to his relationship with Butina, then pardoned by Trump in his last week in office.[52]
| United States of America v. Mariia Butina, aka Maria Butina | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Court | U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia |
| Defendant | Mariia Butina |
| Prosecution | Erik M. Kenerson[53] |
| Citation(s) | 18 U.S.C. § 951. |
| Court membership | |
| Judge(s) sitting | Deborah A. Robinson |
On July 15, 2018, Butina was arrested in Washington, and charged with acting in the United States as an agent of a foreign government; specifically the Russian Federation, without prior notification to the Attorney General, a conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, to wit, 18 U.S.C. §951 (foreign relations, agents of foreign governments), in violation of 18 U.S.C. §371 (conspiracy).[54]
After her arrest, it was mistakenly reported she was charged with a violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (22 U.S.C. §11 foreign agents and propaganda). United States law dictates that all lobbyists representing foreign governments must register as such with the Department of Justice.[10] Her attorney said that "the allegations of the indictment are essentially that her only illegal act was not registering."[55]
On July 18, Butina pleaded not guilty,[56] and a District Court judge ordered her jailed pending trial.[56] She was also said to be cooperating in a federal fraud investigation in South Dakota.[57] Butina was held in solitary confinement in Alexandria Detention Center.[58]
According to the affidavit in support of the complaint, from as early as 2015 and continuing through at least February 2017, Butina worked at the direction of a high-level official in the Russian government, who, according to The New York Times, was believed to be Torshin. The court filings detail the Russian official's and Butina's efforts for Butina to act as an agent of Russia inside the United States by developing relationships with U.S. persons and infiltrating organizations having influence in the Republican Party and in conservative politics—such as the National Rifle Association, the National Prayer Breakfast and some religious organizations—for the purpose of advancing the interests of the Russian Federation.[59]
The filings also describe certain actions taken by Butina to further this effort during multiple visits from Russia and, later, when she entered and resided in the United States on a student visa. The filings allege that she undertook her activities "without officially disclosing the fact that she was acting as an agent of Russian government, as required by law."[60]
Butina, Torshin, and Erickson have been subjects of an investigation by the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. Erickson is referred to in Butina's indictment as "Person 1." In addition, George D. O'Neill Jr., a conservative writer and Rockefeller heir, is "Person 2."[32][37][61] Torshin has also been the subject of a probe by the FBI into whether the Russian government attempted to illegally funnel money to the NRA in order to help Trump win the presidency.[32][39]
The FBI began to monitor Butina in August 2016, after she had moved to the United States on an F-1 student visa. Rather than confront her immediately, the FBI chose to track her movements and gather information on whom she was meeting, and what her end goals were to be.[62]
Butina's attorneys and federal prosecutors declared in a November 16, 2018, court filing that they had entered into plea negotiations.[63] On December 13, she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to act as an illegal foreign agent, while the original charge of failing to register as a foreign agent was dropped.[64][65] She faced a maximum sentence of five years in prison and, according to a CNN report, will "likely be deported after serving any time."[12]
On April 26, 2019, Butina was sentenced to 18 months in prison by Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, in accordance with the recommendations of prosecutors.[66] Butina was released from prison on October 25 and deported back to Russia.
Butina later complained that in the U.S., she was forced to sign a plea-deal. She claimed that she was sentenced for simply being Russian.[67]
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had no prior knowledge of Butina.[68] Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov made a statement saying that Butina's arrest was designed to undermine the "positive results" of the Helsinki summit between U.S. President Trump and Russian President Putin.[69] She was arrested a day before Trump met his Russian counterpart.[33] Butina's father has called the accusations against her "a witch-hunt".[70]
Leonid Slutsky, head of the lower house of the Russian parliament's foreign affairs committee, called Butina's case a "modern political inquisition."[71] Russia's Foreign Ministry accused the United States of forcing false confession from Butina.[72] 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."[73]
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Further information: Timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections |
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Further information: Timeline of investigations into Trump and Russia (2017) and Timeline of investigations into Trump and Russia (July–December 2017) |
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Further information: Timeline of investigations into Trump and Russia (January–June 2018) and Timeline of investigations into Trump and Russia (July–December 2018) |
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Further information: Timeline of investigations into Trump and Russia (2019–2020) |
In 2021, she visited Alexei Navalny, who was on hunger strike, in prison, stating that the conditions in the prison are better than in hotels in the Altai Territory, and Navalny himself is eating candy, not starving.[158] In October 2021, she became a member of the State Duma representing Kirov Oblast for the United Russia party.[159]
She expressed support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, sharing a video on social media displaying the Z symbol on her jacket.[160] She had previously made an appearance the day after the beginning of the invasion on state-controlled TV talk show Time Will Tell condemning the Ukrainian government for arming civilians to repel Russian assaults on cities.[161] In a HARDtalk interview in March, she refused to give credibility to any non-Russian source.[162]
Butina is one of the members of the State Duma the United States Treasury sanctioned on 24 March 2022 in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[163]
Sanctioned by Canada under the Special Economic Measures Act (S.C. 1992, c. 17) in relation to the Russian invasion of Ukraine for Grave Breach of International Peace and Security.[164] and by the UK government in 2022 in relation to Russo-Ukrainian War.[165]
