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FProsecutors of the judicial order want the Russian agent and gun rights activist Maria Butina to serve an 18-month sentence.
Butina, 30, who is expected to be sentenced by the US District Court next week, has plotted with Russian government agents to gain weight in the National Rifle Association and in right-wing political circles for the first time. Moscow profit. She entered the United States on a student visa after being admitted to the School of International Service at American University as a master's student.
After her arrest last July, Butina pleaded guilty to failing to register as an agent of the Russian government.
Prosecutors, who are expected to recommend a prison term of zero to six months in federal prisons after Butina's cooperation in the investigation, said in their brief that the 18-month recommendation already takes into account the six-month reduction. month of his plea.
"The value of this information for the Russian Federation is immense," the prosecutors wrote in the memo. "Such operations can seriously undermine our national security by allowing secret agents to access our country and powerful individuals who can influence its direction.
"The activities at issue in this case are part of Russia's broader program of acquiring information and establishing exploitative communications and channels of communication for the benefit of the Russian Federation."
"If it had done so successfully, the risks to the United States would have included damage to the country's political processes, to the internal relations of the government and to the interests of US foreign policy," prosecutors wrote.
On Friday, Butina's legal team also submitted a memo regarding the sentence, claiming that Butina had not taken any action with the intention of harming the United States. She asserted that her full cooperation in the investigation should weigh heavily in sentencing.
"Maria Butina is a devoted girl, an authentic idealist and a compassionate civil activist," Butina's legal team wrote in her memo. "Nearly a year ago, she earned a master's degree from the American university, as well as brilliant career prospects.His world has now collapsed because of a decision to help discuss his amateur diplomacy efforts with a Russian official. "
"She did not infiltrate the NRA.It joined her, as have already made millions of people, by completing an online form and paying a fee. did not seduce the figures it contains, nor did it convey Russian money to it, and no one else ordered it to do so, "added his defense.
Butina's defense included a series of letters accompanying their sentencing memorandum, ranging from close family to colleagues and professors, who spoke of Butina's character. The letters revealed a common theme for Butina's defense: if laws were broken, she would act unconsciously against American law.
In one of the letters, written by her grandmother, Butina is described as a well-meaning but naive young woman who was trapped in US-Russian diplomacy while studying in Washington.
"If that happened, it was probably due to ignorance or lack of understanding of the laws of your country, and it could have been a childish naivety fueling a dream of bringing Russian-American relations closer (even though After all, having specialized in "foreign relations" could have led Maria to pursue this goal, "Butina's grandmother wrote.
Butina's mother also echoed this feeling, saying that her daughter had already paid enough time and was suffering for not having known the "foreign law".
"If my daughter did something to break one of your country's laws, trust me when I say that it could only have happened because she did not know the laws of the country." Another country, there was no intention or premeditated action on the part of Maria hurt your country, "wrote the mother of Butina.
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