The FBI has evidence that Mariia Butina was in contact with officials believed to be Russian intelligence operatives including members of the FSB and a Russian diplomat. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo Accused Russian agent ordered held in jail after prosecutors release dramatic allegations

A Russian national arrested on charges of acting as an illegal foreign agent was in contact with Russian intelligence services, federal prosecutors argued Wednesday, offering colorful details about what they say was a wide-ranging and at times salacious covert influence campaign in the U.S.

Mariia Butina, 29, pleaded not guilty and was ordered to remain in jail pending trial after prosecutors said she posed an “extreme” flight risk and that she could get help from Russia in sneaking out of the U.S.


Prosecutors said that she obtained a student visa in the U.S. that was “predicated on deception” and that she was in contact with Russian intelligence services during her nearly two-year stay in the U.S. They told Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson that she dined earlier this year with a Russian diplomat suspected of being a Russian intelligence officer, just before the U.S. government expelled him.

The Justice Department said Butina’s closest tie to the U.S. is a person with whom she was involved in a “personal relationship,” which appears to be long-time Republican operative Paul Erickson. But, in court documents filed Wednesday, prosecutors said they believe Butina views that relationship as “simply a necessary aspect of her activities.”

“For example, on at least one occasion, Butina offered an individual other than U.S. Person 1 sex in exchange for a position within a special interest organization,” prosecutors said. “Further, in papers seized by the FBI, Butina complained about living with U.S. Person 1 and expressed disdain for continuing to cohabitate with U.S. Person 1.”

Butina’s lawyer, Robert Driscoll, said during the court appearance Wednesday that she was not a flight risk, having stayed put despite an FBI search of her apartment and investigative interest by two Senate committees earlier this year, and was not involved in any kind of espionage. He said she had already been under FBI surveillance; prosecutors introduced into evidence what appeared to be a surveillance photo of Butina having dinner with the suspected Russian operative.

Driscoll referred to Erickson as Butina’s “boyfriend” and said she planned to move to South Dakota with him over the summer.

“This is not an espionage case, this is not a spy case, this is a regulatory filing case,” in which Butina didn’t file the correct paperwork with the Justice Department, Driscoll told Robinson in arguing why she should be freed pending trial.

“She’s not an agent of the Russian Federation,” Driscoll told reporters after the hearing.

Erickson did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Erik Kenerson, the lead prosecutor, said in court that Erickson currently is the subject of a federal fraud probe in South Dakota.

The latest disclosures dramatically broaden the picture federal authorities have presented of Russian efforts to influence U.S. politics. The Butina case is not part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s sprawling look at Russia’s use of hacking, disinformation and other means to intervene in the 2016 election. But it has overlaps with that probe, including efforts to determine to what extent covert Russian spies are actively working on U.S. soil.

Butina was arrested over the weekend after being accused of aiding Russian efforts to influence U.S. politics and push a more Russia-friendly posture. Prosecutors say she worked alongside a high-level Russian official — who was not named but appears to be Alexander Torshin, an associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin — and tried to infiltrate political organizations, including an unnamed group that appears to be the National Rifle Association, to boost Russia’s interests. Driscoll denied the accusations in a statement Monday after the charges became public.

Prosecutors said Butina — whose request Wednesday to appear in court in civilian clothes, not a prison uniform, was denied — used her relationship with Erickson to gain access to “an extensive network of U.S. persons in positions to influence political activities in the United States.” That included top NRA officials, including former group president David Keene, who joined Erickson on a late 2013 trip to Russia to visit Butina’s “Right to Bear Arms” pro-gun group.

In the court filings, prosecutors said her graduate work at American University in Washington was merely a cover, saying text messages and emails between Butina and Erickson showed her asking him for help with assignments, including “editing papers and answering exam questions.” Her lawyer has said she recently earned a master’s degree from the university.

FBI agents also discovered messages in which the Russian official who appears to be Torshin likened Butina to Anna Chapman, the young spy who was part of a ring of Russian covert agents arrested in 2010, and then traded away in a high-profile spy swap, according to the documents. After media profiles of Butina and her work as a gun rights activist, Torshin wrote that she had “upstaged Anna Chapman. She poses with toy pistols, while you are being published with real ones.”

In another message, after she sent a photo of herself near the U.S. Capitol on Trump’s Inauguration Day, Torshin wrote, “You’re a daredevil girl!” Butina replied, “Good teachers!” according to the court documents. Prosecutors said the exchanges should indicate Butina was considered on par with other covert Russian agents. Driscoll said the exchange merely showed a foreign student sending a photo to a mentor at home.

Prosecutors said FBI surveillance over the past week confirmed that Butina has access to funds and “an intention to move money outside of the United States,” the court documents said, and FBI agents saw packed boxes at her Washington apartment when she was arrested.

She also apparently has connections with Russian oligarchs, including one who often travels to the U.S., according to the documents.

“The concern that Butina poses a risk of flight is only heightened due to her connection to suspected Russian intelligence operatives,” the Justice Department said in the court documents.

“Because Butina has been exposed as an illegal agent of Russia, there is the grave risk that she will appeal to those within that government with whom she conspired to aid her escape from the United States,” prosecutors said.

Darren Samuelsohn contributed to this report.