Washington (July 17, 2018): A 29-year-old Russian woman Maria Butina has been charged with conspiracy to act as a Russian government agent while infiltrating political groups in the United States.
Maria Butina had developed close ties with the Republican party and had become an advocate for gun rights, according to US media reports.
The charges are not related to the Mueller probe that is examining alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
She allegedly worked at the direction of a high-level Kremlin official. Butina’s attorney Robert Driscoll said in a statement released on Monday that his client was “not an agent” and instead just an international relations student “who is seeking to use her degree to pursue a career in business”.
He added the charges were “overblown” and there was “no indication of Butina seeking to influence or undermine any specific policy or law or the United States”.
Driscoll said his client had “has been co-operating with various government entities for months” over the allegations.
Butina, who lives in Washington, was arrested on Sunday and was held in jail pending a hearing set for Wednesday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a statement.
The announcement of her arrest came hours after US President Donald Trump met his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, and defended the Kremlin against claims of interference in the 2016 presidential election.
The arrest also came days after the justice department charged 12 Russian intelligence officers with hacking Democratic officials in the 2016 US elections.
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