Butina pleaded guilty to conspiring to be a foreign agent in the US, and is cooperating with prosecutors.
Maria Butina, a 30-year-old Russian national, admitted Thursday in federal court that she made contacts with the NRA and top Republican officials in an attempt to secretly influence US politics at Russia’s behest.
Butina, who is a gun rights activist, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to act as a foreign agent as part of a cooperation agreement with prosecutors. She admitted to acting under the direction of a Russian official, Alexander Torshin, another prominent gun rights supporter and a fixture in Russian politics.
She also worked with another individual to infiltrate conservatives circles, who was identified in documents as “US Person 1,” and who is believed to be Paul Erickson, a longtime GOP operative with connections to the NRA. (He and Butina also dated and lived together.)
The case against Butina is separate from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Yet Butina’s activities fit into a broader narrative of Russian efforts to influence US politics.
Butina was arrested in July and initially pleaded not guilty to the charges against her, which at the time included acting as an agent of a foreign government, and conspiring to do so.
