Exclusive – The accused Russian agent Butina met with the US Treasury, officials of the Fed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Russian agent Maria Butina has had more high-level contacts in Washington than previously, attending the 2015 meetings between a visiting Russian official and two top officials of the US Federal Reserve.

The meetings, revealed by several people familiar with the sessions and a report of a Washington think tank that organized them, involved Stanley Fischer, Vice President of the Fed at the time, and Nathan Sheets, then Under-Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs.

Butina traveled to the United States in April 2015 with Alexander Torshin, then Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Russia, and participated in separate meetings with Fischer and Sheets to discuss economic relations between the United States and the United States. Russia.

The two meetings, which were not previously reported, reveal a wider circle of high-powered connections that Butina sought to cultivate with US political leaders and special interest groups.

Butina's lawyer, Robert Driscoll, did not have details about his participation in meetings with Treasury and Federal Reserve officials when he was asked questions at their subject Friday.

The meetings with Fischer and Sheets were organized by the Center for National Interest, a think-tank on Washington's foreign policy that often advocates pro-Russian views.

The meetings were documented in a report of the Center for National Interest as seen by Reuters describing its activities related to Russia from 2013 to 2015. The report described these meetings as helping to bring together "personalities from the institutions Financials of the United States and Russia. "

A judge on Wednesday ordered Butina, 29, jailed until her trial after US prosecutors argued that she had links with the secret service Russian and could flee the United States. Butina pleaded not guilty to the charges she acted as a foreign agent for Russia. She is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday for a status conference in her case.

Butina worked for Torshin, who has close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin as his interpreter at various events in Washington.

Fischer, an email sent to Reuters, confirmed that he had met Torshin and his interpreter. Although he does not remember the details, Fischer said the conversation was about "the state of the Russian economy" and Torshin's new role as deputy governor of the central bank .

Another person familiar with the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity, stated that it had happened on April 7, 2015 and that Butina was present.

Federal prosecutors accused Butina of conspiring with two US citizens and a senior Russian official to influence US policy toward Russia and infiltrate a gun-fighting group that would be the National Rifle Association. The NRA is an influential pro-arms lobby with close ties to Republican politicians, including President Donald Trump.

Matters relating to Russia have cast a cloud over Trump's presidency.

"ADVANCE INTERESTS"

The description of the senior Russian official mentioned in the indictment corresponds to Torshin. According to the indictment, from about 2015, Butina and the official conspired to "promote the interests of the Russian Federation".

"I remember Mr. Torshin had mentioned that he was planning to attend a meeting of the National Rifle. Association, a fact that I considered irrelevant to our conversation, "wrote Fischer to Reuters.

Sheets declined to comment through the intermediary of Ted Smith, a spokesman for the company's management. 39, PGIM assets, where Sheets is currently working

Fischer and Sheets have met with many international banking officials as part of their official duties.

The Treasury Department has imposed in April sanctions on Torshin and a number of other Russian government businessmen and officials in Putin 's inner circle.

The think tank hosted Trump during the summer break. an event organized at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington in April 2016, in the presence of Sergei Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to Washington at that time.

The April 2015 visit of Butina and Torshin occurred approximately one at n after the Obama administration imposed sanctions on Russia for its annexation of the Crimean region in Ukraine.

Two months earlier, in February 2015, Russian-born CEO Dimitri Simes went to Moscow, where he met with Putin and other Russian officials, to show the archives of # 39; organization.

During the same trip in April 2015, Torshin and Butina also participated in a private discussion at the center on "Russia's financial situation and its impact on Russian politics," according to people close to the meeting and the think tank report. This event was moderated by the chairman emeritus of the group, the former CEO of AIG, Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, showed the report. Greenberg did not return the calls for comment.

David Keene, former president of the NRA and former president of the American Conservative Union, is a member of the panel of experts. Keene has already been photographed alongside Butina during events.

Paul Saunders, the executive director of the think tank, said that Torshin spoke at an event of April 2015 on the Russian banking system and Butina attended. Saunders said that people in the organization can not remember the details of Torshin's presentation.

"We were not aware of any charges or suspicions of unlawful or improper conduct or any connection with the Russian intelligence services," Saunders said in an e-mail.

Prosecutors said the think tank magazine had published an article by Butina in June 2015 in which she said that "some US and Russian politicians shared many common interests."

Randy Weber, a Republican member from Texas, also met Torshin during the April trip, according to the think tank papers. A spokeswoman for Weber has not responded to several calls or emails asking for comments.