U.S. officials allege that Mariia Butina while attending college in Washington, worked as a Kremlin agent under the direction of a high-level official in the Russian government and the Russian central bank. | Getty U.S. officials charge NRA-linked Russian with acting as Kremlin agent

Federal authorities on Monday charged a Russian citizen living in Washington, D.C. with conspiracy to act as an illegal agent of the Russian government, including attempting to establish "back-channel" relationships with U.S. officials on behalf of the Kremlin, the Justice Department said.

Mariia Butina, 29, was arrested Sunday in connection with what an FBI agent described in court documents as a "Russian influence operation." She made her initial appearance Monday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson in Washington and was ordered to be held pending a hearing set for Wednesday.


U.S. officials allege that Butina, while attending a university in Washington, worked from 2015 until at least February 2017 as a Kremlin agent under the direction of a high-level official in the Russian government and Russian central bank, according to an FBI affidavit in support of the complaint. Although the complaint does not name him, it appears to refer to Alexander Torshin, an associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin and longtime supporter of the National Rifle Association who reportedly also has ties to Russian security services and organized crime figures.

Authorities have been investigating whether Butina and Torshin, both gun enthusiasts who attended NRA events together, were part of a plot to funnel Russian money through the NRA to the Trump campaign, perhaps through NRA entities that were not required to disclose their funding sources.

Butina’s lawyer denied that on Monday, and Torshin also has denied any wrongdoing. The NRA did not respond to requests for comment.

Morning Defense newsletter Sign up for Morning Defense, a daily briefing on Washington's national security apparatus. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Butina’s arrest and the details disclosed in the complaint suggest that the investigation into ties between NRA officials and Russian operatives isn’t over and could figure into the broader probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, some former federal prosecutors said. The court documents appear to make reference to the NRA at times.

“The Maria Butina criminal charge strongly suggests that the Justice Department is far from done with the Russian Rubik’s Cube,” said Gene Rossi, a former federal prosecutor. “In fact, one could argue that the investigation has actually expanded from election fake-news posts to a spy in devious cahoots with the NRA.”

The court filings unsealed Monday detail efforts by both Torshin and Butina to enable her to “act as an agent of Russia inside the United States by developing relationships with U.S. persons and infiltrating organizations having influence in American politics, for the purpose of advancing the interests of the Russian Federation.”

The filings say Butina furthered the conspiracy by making multiple trips from Russia to the United States and then by obtaining a student visa and living in the nation’s capital. The Justice Department said one of Butina’s missions was to establish “unofficial lines of communications with U.S. politicians and political organizations" and to communicate with Torshin “and others” by meetings, email and other channels “to send reports, seek direction, and receive orders in furtherance of the conspiracy.”

Butina undertook those alleged activities as an agent of the Russian government without officially notifying federal authorities, as required by law, the Justice Department said. The charges provide for a maximum penalty on the conspiracy charge of five years if Butina is convicted.

Robert Driscoll, a lawyer for Butina, said in a statement Monday that a dozen FBI agents executed a search warrant on her Washington apartment in April. Since then, Butina has offered repeatedly to meet with officials in federal law enforcement, including the office of special counsel Robert Mueller, but they’ve rebuffed her, Driscoll said, and she was arrested Sunday "without prior notice to counsel."

She voluntarily testified several months ago before the Senate Intelligence Committee and handed over thousands of documents, he said.

“The substance of the charge in the complaint is overblown,” Driscoll said. “While styled as some sort of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agent Registration Act, in actuality it describes a conspiracy to have a ‘friendship dinner’ at Bistro Bis with a group of Americans and Russians to discuss foreign relations between the two countries — hardly a shocking development for Russian International Relations student living in Washington.”

“There is simply no indication of Butina seeking to influence or undermine any specific policy or law of the United States — only at most to promote a better relationship between the two nations,” Driscoll added, saying she is not an agent of Russia but a Russian national who recently graduated from American University and who has a work permit in pursuit of a business career.

Mueller reportedly has been investigating whether Russian officials tried to fund and influence President Donald Trump's campaign in 2016 through associations with the NRA. Monday’s announcement, however, wasn’t made by Mueller’s team but by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers and other officials. A Justice Department spokesperson said the Butina case is “not related” to Mueller’s investigation.

For more than a year, some Democrats in Congress also have been trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to force the NRA to produce documents that could shed light funding from Russia, and its ties to Russian figures like Butona and Torshin. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, has been especially forceful, saying he wants to know whether the NRA was funneling money from the Kremlin through the NRA to help Trump, and why it spent at least three times more money on Trump’s campaign than it did on Republican nominee Mitt Romney in 2012.



“Today’s news means Republicans can no longer ignore what has been in front of them for months: Russia used the NRA to infiltrate and influence US politics,” Wyden said. “I hope the Republican leadership in Congress will finally join my investigation on the NRA’s role in attacking our democracy and force the NRA to answer straightforward questions about its role in the 2016 election.”

The Trump administration imposed stiff sanctions this past April against Torshin, who has denied wrongdoing, and six other Russian oligarchs and 17 Russian government officials in response to Russian interference in the 2016 election.

In May 2016, Butina and Torshin attempted through intermediaries to arrange a meeting between Putin and Trump, claiming Torshin was acting at the behest of the Russian president, the New York Times reported. The subject line of one related email, which was later turned over to Senate investigators, read, “Russian backdoor overture and dinner invite,” the Times reported, citing one person who had seen it. It said Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior campaign aide, rejected the request.

That same month, Torshin shared a table at an NRA-sponsored dinner with Trump’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., according to an account Torshin later gave Bloomberg.

In the court filings on Monday, the Justice Department also identified two U.S. people and a U.S. congressman as working with Butina. It did not identify those people or suggest that they were witting accomplices to any illegal acts.

One of them, identified only as “U.S. Person 1,” allegedly corresponded frequently with Butina and offered her guidance, advice on strategy and lists of influential Americans who could help her in the United States. That person appears also to have been under federal investigation; the FBI affidavit discloses that U.S. authorities had access to his or her email and that Person 1 told an acquaintance that, “I’ve been involved in securing a VERY private line of communication between the Kremlin and key POLITICAL PARTY 1 leaders through, of all conduits" a U.S. gun rights organization.

Based on other information in the court documents, those references appear to be to the Republican Party and the NRA.

One of Butina’s closest American contacts, veteran Republican operative Paul Erickson, has drawn the interest of lawmakers probing the ties between Russia, the NRA and the Trump campaign — and where Butina and Torshin fit in.

In December 2015, Erickson visited Russia along with former NRA President David Keene and other guns rights activists, which reportedly was attended by Torshin. Two months later, Erickson and Butina reportedly formed a limited liability corporation, Bridges, LLC, in his home state of South Dakota, where Butina had residency and was promoting her Russian guns rights group, Right to Bear Arms.

In spring 2016, Erickson worked through various intermediaries, including Butina, to try and set up a meeting between Trump and Putin, by first having campaign officials — and hopefully Trump himself — meet with Torshin at the NRA convention that May, according to media reports. In one email to the Trump campaign, Erickson described Butina, who attended the convention with Torshin, as Putin’s “emissary.” After the election, they reportedly were seen together around Washington, including at a VIP-only inauguration ball.

On Monday, Erickson could not be reached for comment about the charges against Butina. His voice mail was full and he did not respond to a text message seeking comment. Keene, the former NRA President, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Butina, under Torshin’s direction, also worked other “diverse and multifaceted” avenues, according to the documents, including getting many influential Russians invited to National Prayer Breakfasts in the United States, hosting dinners between Russians and influential Americans in Washington and New York, and attending political events.

In July 2015, Butina posed a question to Trump about his relations with Moscow during a libertarian convention in Las Vegas, just a month after the Republican announced his campaign for president.

“I am visiting from Russia,” she said in an exchange that was captured by a group called LetsTalkNevada. “If you’d be elected as president, what will be your foreign politics, especially in relationships with my country, and do you want to continue politics of sanctions that damage both economies or you have any other ideas?”

“I know Putin...I believe I would get along very nicely with Putin,” Trump said. “I don’t think you’d need the sanctions.”

On election night, Butina and Torshin followed along in real time and corresponded via Twitter messages, according to the FBI official's affidavit. After Trump’s surprise victory, Butina wrote Torshin to say, “I’m going to sleep. It’s 3 a.m. here. I am ready for further orders.”

Josh Gerstein contributed to this story