US Arrests Russian Agent for Conspiring to Influence Politics

A 29-year-old Russian woman living in Washington has been arrested and charged with conspiracy to act as an agent of the Russian government while developing ties with American citizens and infiltrating political groups, the U.S. Justice Department said Monday.

Maria Butina, a student at American University and a founder of the pro-gun rights Russian advocacy organization Right to Bear Arms, is accused of working at the direction of a high-level official who worked for the Russian Central Bank and was recently sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Justice Department said in a statement.

The court records do not name the official.

However, she is pictured in numerous photographs on her Facebook page with Alexander Torshin, the deputy head of Russia's Central Bank, and a person familiar with the matter confirmed to Reuters that she worked for him.

Torshin was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in April.

Butina was arrested Sunday and was ordered held pending a hearing set for Wednesday, it said.

According to the complaint against her, she worked with two unnamed U.S. citizens and the Russian official to try and influence American politics and infiltrate a pro-gun rights organization.

The complaint does not name the group; however, photos on her Facebook page show she has attended events sponsored by the National Rifle Association.

She arranged dinners in Washington and New York City and tried to develop relationships with American politicians in order to establish "back channel" lines of communication to "penetrate the U.S. national decision-making apparatus to advance the agenda of the Russian Federation," the complaint said.

According to The Washington Post, Butina, a former Siberian furniture store owner, founded a Russian gun rights group called the Right to Bear Arms and became an assistant to Russian central banker and former senator Alexander Torshin. She began reaching out to NRA members and other American gun enthusiasts in 2013, on several occasions hosting NRA executives and gun activists in Moscow, including one delegation that included former Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke, the Post reported.

She and Torshin also attended a series of NRA events in the United States starting in 2014. She also attended an NRA convention in May 2016, where conservative activist Paul Erickson worked to get Torshin a meeting with President Donald Trump, the Post reported.

In an email to the campaign, Erickson referred to Torshin as "President Putin's emissary" in an effort to improve relations with the United States, the Post reported. The meeting did not happen.

Butina and Torshin did, however, have brief interaction with Donald Trump Jr., who has said the interaction was brief and not memorable, the Post reported. The Post reported Butina accompanied Erickson to Trump's inauguration.

Newsmax's Cathy Burke contributed to this report.