Russian woman charged with infiltrating US political groups under Kremlin direction Russian citizen Maria Butina, 29, has been charged with acting as an agent of Russia inside the United States.

Image: Maria Butina has been charged with infiltrating US political organisations

A Russian woman has been charged with infiltrating US political organisations at the direction of a senior Kremlin official.

Maria Butina, a Russian citizen who lives in Washington DC, has appeared in court after being arrested in the US capital on 15 July.

The US justice department said in a statement that the 29-year-old is accused of working "at the direction of a high-level official in the Russian government who was previously a member of the legislature of the Russian Federation and later became a top official at the Russian Central Bank".

This took place "from as early as 2015 and continuing through at least February 2017", the statement said.

It said the official was sanctioned by the US treasury department's office of foreign assets control in April this year.


The justice department says Butina allegedly entered and resided in the US on a student visa without officially disclosing the fact that she was acting as an agent of Russian government, as required by law.

The maximum penalty for conspiracy is five years.

One of the agencies Butina is accused of infiltrating is the National Rifle Association (NRA), a strong ally of the Republican party.

Igor Shmelev, who heads the Right to Bear Arms group which Butina established, has told Sky News he wants to intervene and secure her release.

He said: "We're relying on Russia's foreign ministry and on her lawyer who have already said that she is innocent.

"She is smart, intelligent, she is a leader. But one of her main rules always was to abide by the law.

"She has never advocated breaking the law during her activities in Russia."

Image: Butina is accused of working 'at the direction of a high-level official in the Russian government'

It comes just hours after US President Donald Trump backed a denial by his Russian counterpart of any involvement or meddling in American elections.

After Mr Trump made his comments, director of national intelligence Dan Coats said: "We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy."

On Friday it was announced that 12 Russians have been charged with hacking Democratic Party emails during the 2016 US presidential election.

Moments after the news of Butina's arrest broke, Mr Trump tweeted from aboard the Air Force One en route back to America following his Helsinki meeting with Vladimir Putin.

"As I said today and many times before, "I have GREAT confidence in MY intelligence people." However, I also recognize that in order to build a brighter future, we cannot exclusively focus on the past - as the world's two largest nuclear powers, we must get along!" he wrote.