Pleading to one count of spying for Russia in D.C.’s federal court Dec. 12, 30-year-old Maria Butina acted contrite. Managing to worm her way into the upper echelon of Republican circles, the Russian gun advocate befriended mucky-mucks at the National Rifle Association, drawn to Butin’s magic in Russia promoting gun ownership. “Butina established unofficial lines of communication with Americans having power and influence over U.S. politics,” said U.S. attorney Erik Kenerson. Butina told U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan she agreed with her plea bargain, charging her with conspiracy. Butin got her foray into the NRA and Washington’s inner circles with her love affair with 57-year-old South Dakota-Washington, D.C. GOP political operative Paul Erickson. Erickson helped Butina weasel her way into the National Prayer Breakfast and other conservative events.
Erickson was charged with conspiracy, enabling the 30-year-old Russian spy to infiltrate GOP and NRA’s inner circles. Butina, who was on a J1 student visa at American University in D.C., was bankrolled by Russian billionaire Alexander Torchin, former deputy chairman of Russia’s central bank. Arriving in the U.S. in 2015, Butina’s mission was to infiltrate Republican power centers, reporting back to the Kremlin anything she could find about the upcoming 2016 presidential election. Whether or not Butina was part of what U.S. intel agencies call “Russian meddling” in the 2016 election, isn’t known for sure. Latching on to Erickson proved beneficial for Butina, seducing the 57-year-old, naturally attracted to the 30-year-old Russian spy. “In securing a VERY private line of communication between the Kremlin” and NRA officials U.S. prosecutors said in the plea deal.
Helping a foreign agent, whether knowingly or unknowingly, constitutes, spying by Erickson, who so far, hasn’t admitted that he enabled Butina to advance the Kremlin’s agenda on U.S. soil. Butina’s U.S. defense attorney Robert Driscoll confirmed that Erickson visited Butina in federal detention several times during her incarceration. Calling his client a “good American,” Erickson’s attorney Bill Hurd insisted Erickson “has never done anything to hurt our country and never would,” not admitting that Erickson was compromised in his affair with the Russia spy. Calling Butina’s plea deal “absurd,” Russian lawmaker and Kremlin official Oleg Morozov, rejected the idea that the 30-year-old spied on the United States. “She was not a secret Russian agent, she did everything publicly and open,” said Morozov. “Russia will continue to support her despite of her statements.”
Butina remains jailed in an Alexandria, Va. federal detention facility, awaiting sentencing by U.S. District Court Judge Chutkan, expect to sentence her to a minimum of five years in federal prison. Arrested in July, Butina was tracked carefully as she wove her way early on in the 2016 presidential campaign. Butina once asked President Donald Trump at a Las Vegas event whether or not he planned to improve relations between the U.S. and Russia. While innocent enough, Butina operated like the ends of Kremlin tentacles into U.S. society. Given the backdrop of Special Counsel Robert Mueller Russian meddling investigation, you’d think that Mueller’s team would have filed charges against Butina but they didn’t. Butina, with her Kremlin contacts, started her own NRA-like group in Moscow called “Right to Bear Arms” to promote gun ownership rights in Russia.
Members of the NRA traveled to Moscow to attend Butina’s Gun rights group showing how easily duped the gun-advocacy group. Kremlin officials who directed Butin clearly understood changing political trends in the U.S., especially the rise of Trump. Butina found her way to NRA darling Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, attending a conference together. Somehow Butina managed to attend July 15, 2015 Walker’s official announcement he’d run for president in 2016. U.S. officials and corporate executives need to be leery of attractive young Russian women looking to hobnob in upper political circles. Butina went to all the right GOP events to get properly connected. Her affair with Erickson gave her access on many GOP events that even her Kremlin handlers had no clue about. Federal prosecutors need to take seriously Erickson’s affair with Butina, whether he was duped or not.
Calling Butina a legitimate university student, her defense attorney insists she was not feeding the Kremlin information. Like convicted Russian spy Anna Chapman, Butina too plead guilty to operating in the U.S. as an unregistered foreign agent. Bankrolled by billionaire Russian oligarch Alexander Torchin, Butina was no innocent university student entering the U.S. When the U.S. intel community is done with Butina, they’ll no doubt deport her like they did Chapman in 2010. Whatever happens to Butina, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkin must deal harshly with Butina’s partner-in-crime GOP operative Paul Erickson, who, at the very least, was complicit helping Butina’s mission to covertly collect data on the U.S. government. Visiting Butina often in federal detention, Erickson showed that he’s still smitten by the Russian spy who got him to betray his country.
