WASHINGTON — Maria Butina pleaded guilty on Thursday to conspiring to act as an agent for the Russian government in the United States, admitting she was involved in efforts to set up informal back channels between US and Russian officials leading up to the 2016 presidential election.

Butina agreed to cooperate with prosecutors as part of her plea deal, and a lawyer for the government said at her plea hearing that her cooperation was “ongoing.” The judge won’t set a sentencing date until Butina finishes working with the government — the prosecutor asked to update the court on their status by mid-February; the court set a hearing for Feb. 12.

Butina has been in jail since her arrest in July, and appeared in federal district court in Washington, DC, unshackled as she stood before the judge and entered her guilty plea. Wearing a green jail uniform and a white shirt with a large hole in the left elbow, Butina appeared calm as she answered questions from US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, although a few times she got ahead of the judge, giving her answer before the judge finished asking a question. She’ll remain in jail while she cooperates.

The judge also for the first time revealed a situation involving Butina’s lawyer Robert Driscoll that the judge had been dealing with on a sealed basis until now. Chutkan announced to the courtroom that prosecutors had recordings of calls that Butina made in jail that the government said might suggest Butina was trying to serve as a go-between for the media and her lawyer, who is bound by a court-imposed gag order not to speak with reporters.

The judge had appointed an “advisory counsel” for Butina to advise her on the potential conflict of interest issue presented by the evidence the government said it had — that there was concern her lawyer might have incentive for her to plead guilty to avoid getting in trouble with the court for violating the gag order. Butina told the judge that she waived any such potential conflict, and was “extremely satisfied” with her legal representation. The judge did not make a finding about whether Driscoll violated her order and allowed him to continue handling the case.

A federal grand jury indicted Butina in mid-July on two counts: acting as an agent of a foreign government without alerting the US government, and conspiring to do so. Prosecutors claimed Butina received guidance from a Russian official who tasked her with influencing US foreign policy toward the country; her lawyers from the start denied she was acting as an agent, saying she was just a graduate student. The first charge carried a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, while the conspiracy charge had a maximum sentence of five years.

Prosecutors agreed to drop the more serious count when she’s sentenced. The lawyers estimated that she faced a sentencing range of between zero to six months. As part of the deal, prosecutors could ask the judge for a low sentence, or even no prison time, if they’re satisfied with her cooperation. Assistant US Attorney Erik Kenerson did not offer any details about what sort of information they wanted from Butina. Butina acknowledged that as a Russian national, she could face deportation once she finishes serving any prison time she may face.

Butina admitted working with a Russian official and US citizen — both unnamed in charging papers — since at least 2015 to develop a plan to try to influence US policy to the benefit of the Russian government. The Russian official she is accused of reporting to matches the description of Alexander Torshin, a former Russian senator and banking official who is a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin and was sanctioned by the US in April. He left his position as deputy governor of Russia’s central bank on Nov. 30.

Prosecutors say Butina’s American partner — labeled “US Person 1” and known to be South Dakota GOP operative Paul Erickson — helped connect her with prominent conservatives as part of a yearslong influence campaign. He has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

By touting her life story as a Russian gun rights activist from Siberia, Butina became an exotic fixture at conservative events for five years before her arrest. Even before she came to Washington, DC, as a graduate student in 2017, she regularly traveled to NRA conventions with Torshin and Erickson. Through these events she was able to interact with a number of high-profile Republican politicians and activists, including GOP then-candidates Donald Trump, Scott Walker, Bobby Jindal, and Rick Santorum. She also attended the Conservative Political Action Conference and Trump’s inauguration, and organized a Russian delegation to the National Prayer Breakfast in 2017.

After her arrest, the Russian foreign ministry launched an online campaign to raise awareness of what they called the unfair persecution of an innocent graduate student who was just interested in US–Russia relations. Official Kremlin social media accounts even changed their profile photos to Butina’s face.

In the statement of offense laying out the conduct that Butina pleaded guilty to, the government said that Butina wrote in her initial proposal of the “Diplomacy Project” in March 2015 that during her previous trips to the United States she had “laid the groundwork for an unofficial channel of communication with the next U.S. administration.” At the time, she predicted that whoever was nominated by “Political Party #1” — the Republican party, based on descriptions in charging papers and what is known about Butina’s activities — would win the 2016 election, and that the “U.S. civil society gun rights organization” — the NRA, again based on the description and what is known about Butina’s activities — had influence over that party.

Butina traveled to conferences in the United States and invited “powerful members of the Gun Rights Organization” to Russia, according to the statement of offense. After that visit, Butina wrote the Russian official a message in Russian that was translated as, “We should let them express their gratitude now, we will put pressure on them quietly later.”

Butina admitted to organizing “friendship dinners” with influential Americans whom she “believed would have the ear of the next U.S. presidential administration,” the government wrote.