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US prosecutors have asked an 18-month prison sentence for Russian gun rights activist Maria Butina for conspiring with a top Russian official to infiltrate the 2015 Kremlin's National Rifle Association and conservative political circles in the US his arrest in July.
Butina, 30, first Russian national convicted of attempting to influence US policy in the run-up to the 2016 elections as an undeclared agent of a foreign government, cooperated after pleading guilty in December, and prosecutors said their recommendation was made Friday night. a six-month reduction in cooperation as part of an advocacy agreement.
Although Butina was not a traditional spy or a trained intelligence agent, his actions bore "all the hallmarks" of an intelligence operation aimed at recruiting powerful individuals later into a future presidential administration, prosecutors wrote. .
"The value of this information for the Russian Federation is immense," they wrote, adding: "Such operations can seriously undermine our national security by allowing secret agents to gain access to our country and to our country. powerful individuals who can influence its direction. "
Butina's conviction in Washington is set for April 26 before US District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan.
Her attorneys said Friday in her own minutes that her nine months since her arrest should be credited to her, that they should no longer be sentenced to prison or deported to her native Russia after her arrest. sentencing hearing.
Butina "did everything in her power to fix her mistakes through cooperation and substantial assistance," wrote lawyers Robert N. Driscoll and Alfred D. Carry. "His remorse is sincere and deep."
Butina has fully cooperated and "answered all questions" since her call, they added, including meeting voluntarily Senate Intelligence Committee.
Butina admitted working under the leadership of Alexander Torshin, former head of the Russian government, and with a US politician as part of a multi-year program to establish unofficial lines of communication with Americans that could to influence American politics.
[Russian woman pleads guilty to trying to forge bonds between Kremlin and conservatives]
Butina 's letter to Chutkan contained 19 letters attesting to her good morals, 15 of which came from Russian compatriots, including members of her family, colleagues, professors and teachers, as well as victims of aggression. she had helped when they were wrongly accused of crimes.
"If she broke something, it probably would not have been intentional. The only possible The reason this could have happened is the lack of knowledge of laws in the United States, "wrote Valeri Butin, Butina's father .
George D. O. Neill Jr., conservative American writer and heir to Rockefeller, acknowledged having used Butina's help to organize dinners of influential Russian and American advocating closer relations, stated that many of his dreams had been "crushed by politics". circumstances "beyond his control.
"I write in the name of Maria Butina, to whom I believe ve is a young, charming and idealistic soul, "O'Neill wrote, adding, "I hope , condemning it, the court wouLook at this adorable and able young woman and free her without further trouble.
These demands mark the imminent end of the lawsuits that took place in the context of a "radical and systematic" campaign of the Russian government aimed at influencing the 2016 US election, as described by the US government. Special Advocate Robert S. Mueller III in a report released Thursday. .
Although Butina spoke with Mueller's investigators during post-plea proceedings, her case was unrelated to the investigation and was prosecuted by the US District Attorney's Office.
[Guns and religion: How American conservatives grew closer to Putin’s Russia]
Her plan, which she called the "Diplomatic Project", was aimed in particular at the conservative movement and the gun groups, with the goal of reaching the Republican winner of the 2016 election, which she said would have been Donald Trump.
Butina presented the proposal in March 2015. Over the next two years, citing the NRA's influence on the Republican Party, she went to conferences to join Republican presidential candidates, organized "Friendship dinners" with O 'Neill and rich Americans and organized a Russian delegation to participate in the impressive national prayer breakfast in Washington.
She gained access to these groups by founding a gun rights group in Russia and serving as an interpreter for Torshin, a life member of the NRA, as well as a former Russian senator and governor. deputy of his central bank.
[‘She was like a novelty’: How alleged Russian agent Maria Butina gained access to elite conservative circles]
Taking advantage of its novelty as a Siberian-based firearms activist in a restrictive Russia, Butina and Torshin invited the NRA leaders to Moscow in December 2015., including the Milwaukee County Sheriff, David Clarke and David Keene, former president of the ANR and former president of the powerful Union of American Conservatives.
[Russian agent’s guilty plea intensifies spotlight on relationship with NRA]
Butina stressed for Torshin the importance of holding meetings with leading Russian politicians, including a fruitful meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
She then wrote to Torshin, "We should let them express their gratitude now, we will gently pressure them later."
Later, she wrote to Torshin that "she had laid the groundwork for an unofficial channel of communication with the next US administration."
In the conviction papers, Butina's lawyers stated that she had never received Russian funding and that she acted not under orders, but out of sincere interest in improving US-Russian relations. .
"She did not seduce the numbers within [the NRA] or channel the Russian money to it. No one else has ordered him to do it, "said his defense. Butina "asked Torshin – and not the other way around – to hold meetings with Russian politicians to give his group more legitimacy."
Court documents indicate that Butina was working closely with a Republican consultant with whom she had a romantic relationship after visiting Moscow in 2013. He was identified by government officials as Paul Erickson, a long-time political advisor to South Dakota, who headed the government. Pat Buchanan's 1992 presidential campaign.
Erickson was charged in February in South Dakota for what federal prosecutors have described as a fraudulent investment scheme.
Erickson's lawyer, William Hurd, said his client was a "good American" who "never did anything wrong to our country and would never do it."
Rosalind S. Helderman contributed to this report.
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