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Maria Butina, the gun-loving, Russian ex-spy-turned-politician, couldn’t contain her glee Thursday over the White House deal to swap notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for WNBA star Brittney Griner.
“The fact that Russia pushed through the exchange of Bout, whom America fundamentally did not want to give away for many years, right now means that, like in The Godfather, we ‘made them an offer that cannot be refused,’” Butina opined on the Telegram messaging app Thursday.
“This is a position of strength, comrades,” she added.
Butina, a former student at American University, is best known for attempting to infiltrate prominent conservative groups, including the National Rifle Association, as part of a Kremlin-backed influence campaign ahead of the 2016 president election.
She served a 15-month stint in US prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy charges, and was released in 2019.
