Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed “outrage” over Maria Butina’s 18-month prison sentence Saturday, in his first comments on the case.

“It’s an outrage,” Putin told reporters in Beijing, according to Reuters. “It’s not clear what she was convicted of or what crime she committed.”

“I think it’s a prime example of ‘saving face,’” he added. “They arrested her and put the girl in jail. But there was nothing on her, so in order not to look totally stupid they gave her, fixed her up, with an 18-month sentence to show that she was guilty of something.”

Butina, a 30-year-old pro-gun activist, pleaded guilty to being a secret agent for the Kremlin in an attempt to infiltrate conservative political circles in the US.

Butina insisted she wasn’t working as a spy, and only wanted to improve Russia-US relations.

“I wished to mend relations while building my resume,” she tearfully told US District Judge Tanya Chutkan Friday. “It was for these actions and my own ignorance that I’m here.”

Butina will be deported once her stint in jail is up, Chutkan ruled.