The news has been littered with Russia lately. Special Council Robert Mueller slapped 11 Russians with indictments of tampering with U.S. elections. Former spies have been poisoned overseas and now, out of seemingly nowhere, American Intelligence Officials are finding and bringing charges against emerging Russian ‘spies’.
It could all be coincidence, but something just doesn’t settle right when out of nowhere, and in the shadow of a long and largely baseless ‘Russian witch hunt’, Intelligence Officials (vocal opponents to President Donald Trump) are flushing out Russians as enemies to our democracy and freedom. It is especially questionable when it all happens shortly before President Trump was scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Sources reveal that Maria Butina, 29, a pro-gun activist affiliated with the National Rifle Association (NRA), was arrested Sunday.
A FEMALE Russian “spy” has been charged with infiltrating US political groups on the orders of a senior Kremlin official.
Maria Butina, 29, a pro-gun activist affiliated with the National Rifle Association (NRA), was arrested yesterday on a charge of conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of the Russian government.
She is accused of “developing ties with American citizens and infiltrating political groups” including the NRA – while back channeling information to Moscow.
Court papers say the Washington-based agent worked on behalf of an unnamed Kremlin official to influence senior US politicians between 2015 and 2017.
Butina is a student at American University, in Washington DC, and a founder of the pro-gun rights Russian advocacy organization Right to Bear Arms.
She attended events sponsored by special interest groups including two National Prayer Breakfast events, according to the court documents.
The 29-year-old also organized Russian-American “friendship and dialogue” dinners in Washington with the goal of “reporting back to Moscow” what she had learned.
Prosecutors say the senior Russian official – who worked for the Russian Central Bank – has since been sanctioned by the US.
The court records do not name the official.
However, Butina is pictured on her Facebook page with Alexander Torshin, the deputy head of Russia’s Central Bank.
Torshin was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in April.
Other snaps show the flame-haired activist posing with massive machine guns and rifles.
Butina hosted several leading NRA executives and pro-gun conservatives at her group’s annual meeting in 2015, reports The New York Times.
In recent years, she has been involved in coordinating between US gun rights activists and their Russian counterparts, according to reports.
Butina is was due in court on Wednesday.
Photos on her Facebook page show she has attended NRA-sponsored events.
A Justice Department statement said Butina had been “developing relationships with US persons and infiltrating organizations having influence in American politics, for the purpose of advancing the interests of the Russian Federation.”
The announcement of her arrest came just hours after US President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
She was also detained just days after special counsel Robert Mueller charged 12 Russian intelligence officials with directing a hacking effort aimed at swaying the 2016 election.
Butina’s charge was brought the US Attorney for the District of Columbia and do not appear to stem from the ongoing Mueller investigation.
