Maria Butina (Russian: Мария Бутина; born 10 November 1988) is a political activist^[1] and the founder of the Right to Bear Arms, a Russian gun rights group.^[2] At one time, she worked for Aleksandr Torshin, a former Russian senator, belonging to Vladimir Putin’s political party, and deputy governor of the Central Bank of Russia, with alleged ties to the Russian mafia. In recent years, Butina has had extensive ties to conservative American political circles. As of 2018 Butina, Torshin, and Paul Erickson, an American political operative, are under investigation in the United States for their potential involvement in Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.

Butina was born in Barnaul, Altai Krai, Russia, on 10 November 1988. Her mother was an engineer, and her father was an entrepreneur. In the seventh grade, she ran for school mayor and came in seceond place. She studied political science at Altu State University (Russian: АлтГУ) and also received a teaching degree. At 19, she was elected to the Public Council of Altai Krai in the last direct election for the Council.^[3][4][5]

Butina enrolled at American University in 2016, and obtain her Master's degree, International Relations and Affairs in 2018.^[6]

Butina built a furniture business in Siberia called "Homliness" (Russian: политолог). At 21, she moved to Moscow and sold 6 of her 7 furniture stores to start an advertising agency. As of 2014, the four employees of the advertising agency also worked for Right to Bear Arms.^[5]

In 2011, Butina participated in the Youth Primaries organized by the Young Guard of United Russia, the youth wing of the United Russia party, the ruling political party of the Russian Federation.^[7][3][4][5]

Between January 2015 and May 2017, Butina was an assistant to Torshin during his tenure as deputy governor of the Central Bank of Russia.^[6][8][2]

Butina founded Right to Bear Arms on 13 August 2011.^[9][5] In 2012 Butina and Torshin lobbied the Russian senate to expand gun rights.^[10] In 2015 Butina said Right to Bear Arms had 10,000 members and 76 offices in Russia.^[9]

In 2017, Butina told The Washington Post that she never worked for the Russian government.^[11]

Butina has extensive ties to conservative American politics. According to The Daily Beast, Butina 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, D.C..^[8] Torshin has tweeted that he and Butina are the only two Russians he knows of who are lifetime members of the National Rifle Association.^[9]

Butina and Torshin attended the NRA's annual meeting in April 2014 as a special guest of former president David Keene.^[8][12] As a guest of former NRA President Sandy Froman, she attended the Women's Leadership Luncheon at the meeting.^[11][12] She presented to NRA President Jim Porter a plaque from Right to Bear Arms. Afterwards, she tweeted "Mission accomplished." At the meeting, she took selfies with Bobbie Jindal and Rick Santorum. As Keene's guest, she got to ring the the NRA's Liberty Bell, saying, "To the right to bear arms for citizens of the whole world."^[4]

At the NRA annual meeting, in May 2015, Butina met Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. In June 2015, four days before Donald Trump announced his candidacy for president, Butina wrote an article for The National Interest, a conservative American international affairs magazine, urging better relations between the United States and Russia.^[9] She wrote, "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." Her biography in The National Interest failed to mention Butina still worked for the Russian government.^[4] On July 13, 2015 she was present at the launch of Scott Walker's presidential campaign.^[4][13] The next month, Butina attended FreedomFest, where Trump was a speaker, and asked him about ending U.S. sanctions against Russia, to which Trump replied, "I don't think you'd need the sanctions."^[4][14]

In February 2016 Butina started a South Dakota business named "Bridges LLC" with Paul Erickson, a conservative American political operative.^[8][15] Later that year Erickson sent an e-mail with the subject line "Kremlin Connection" to Trump campaign adviser Rick Dearborn repeatedly asking Dearborn and then-Senator Jeff Sessions for advice on setting up a meeting between Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin at an annual NRA convention.^[2][15] Butina hosted a birthday party attended by Erickson and Trump campaign aides shortly after the 2016 election.^[9]

Butina, Alexander Torshin, and Erickson have been subjects of an investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.^[9][16] On January 31, 2017, Torshin, Butina, Erickson, and former Kremlin staffer Andrey Kolyadin dined with Representatives Dana Rohrabacher and Thomas Massie at a private dinner hosted by Rockefeller heir George O’Neill Jr.^[13][17] Torshin has also been the subject of a probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigations into whether the Russian government attempted to illegally funnel money to the NRA in order to help Trump win the presidency.^[16]