A constantly updated timeline of the relationship between the Putin government in Russia and the NRA. Most recent items at bottom.

Then-promising GOP whiz kid Paul Erickson and paleoconservative Pat Buchanan during the latter’s ill-fated 1992 campaign for the GOP presidential nomination.

In 1992, paleoconservative Pat Buchanan launched a failed bid for the GOP presidential nomination. Buchanan’s campaign manager was Paul Erickson, a former staffer with the national College Republicans who had some experience in managing political campaigns. Also working on the campaign was George D. O’Neill, Jr., a tech-savvy Rockefeller heir who was adept with computer databases. After a promising opening primary in the state of New Hampshire, the Buchanan campaign quickly fizzled out.

In 1995, Paul Erickson, the former campaign manager of 1992 Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan, obtained a $30,000 contract to lobby on Capitol Hill for six weeks on behalf of military dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, the president of Zaire (later Republic of Congo) during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. [During the genocide, the majority Hutu government in Rwanda ordered the army and government-backed militias to kill Tutsi people. Mobutu supported Hutu genocidaires based in refugee camps in Zaire, and was accused of allowing them to attack Tutsi. In a period of just 100 days, 500,000 to 1,000,000 Rwandans were killed.]

Mobutu was banned from entering the United States because of his history of human rights violations and embezzlement from his own government (between $4 and $15 billion). He wanted Erickson and Jack Abramoff (who worked for Erickson’s lobbying firm and had produced films with him) to convince Members of Congress to ask the State Department for a change in policy so he could obtain a visa. Mobutu also employed David Keene, the chairman of the board at the American Conservative Union (ACU), for this purpose. Keene did this work through a private lobbying firm he started with his wife Diana in 1987. The combined efforts of Keene, Erickson and Abramoff were ultimately unsuccessful — the State Department rejected Mobutu’s request.

In 1995, David Keene and Paul Erickson lobbied for dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, who allegedly allowed Tutsi people from Rwanda to be attacked and killed in refugee camps inside Zaire (now Republic of Congo).

American Conservative Union chair David Keene was first elected to the National Rifle Association (NRA) board of directors in 2000.

Vanity Fair published a lurid expose about the divorce proceedings of conservative scion/Rockefeller heir George D. O’Neill, Jr. (estimated net worth: $200 million) and Amy Whittlesey in their January 2000 issue (“Irreconcilable Rockefellers”). The divorce was provoked by O’Neill’s infidelity. As author Lisa Depaulo put it, O’Neill was “diddling everyone from baby-sitters to the local funeral director’s wife, employing a harem of big-breasted young women in his business, trying to force his wife into threesomes with the help.” One employee noted “he treated the dogs better than Amy.”

Politically, “George was best known publicly for his vigorous support of the far right … He worked tirelessly for [Republican presidential candidate Pat] Buchanan, as well as for Phyllis Schlafly, the pro-life zealot famous for spearheading the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment.” O’Neill “was often at the shooting range he had built down the road from their house, indulging his interest in guns.” He “slept with a loaded pistol by the bed and took great pride in being a National Rifle Association [certified firearms] instructor.” After the tragedies at Waco and Ruby Ridge in the 1990s, O’Neill “made [his wife] watch videos, many, many videos, concerning the activities of the A.T.F. and how they violated people’s First Amendment rights and broke into homes and shot people and stuff.”

The elusive George D. O’Neill, Jr. Rockefeller heir, Buchananite, gun nut, NRA supporter, abuser of women & children, sexual deviant… He is all these things and he actively promotes Vladimir Putin’s agenda in American conservative circles.

One night after Whittlesey called the husband of one his mistresses, O’Neill “stomped around with a semi-automatic gun in his hand, threatening to blow his brains out if she didn’t retract, in writing, her accusations of adultery.” The next day she left him with their four children. Whittlesey would return to him to reconcile, but after O’Neill claimed (wrongly) not to be the father of their subsequent fifth child, she left him for good. In divorce proceedings in 2000, O’Neill was aggressively fighting Whittlesey’s request for $7,500 per month in alimony payments.

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American Conservative Union chair and NRA board member David Keene co-authored an article with Donald Devine (the editor of the ACU’s ConservativeBattleline newsletter) in the December 25, 2000 edition of Insight on the News, a conservative print and online magazine owned by Unification movement founder Sun Myung Moon. Titled “American Imperialism is Not in the U.S. Interest,” the article offered a sharp critique of Neo-Conservatism and the Clinton administration’s foreign policy concerning Russia and its new authoritarian president, Vladimir Putin. Keene and Devine impugned several foreign policy decisions made by the U.S. and its allies, including the Council of Europe’s threat to suspend Russia for its war in Chechnya, the expansion of NATO to Russia’s borders, and NATO forces’ bombing of Serbia and occupation of Kosovo. According to Keene and Devine, these actions “humiliated Russia and created a national consensus there for a strong leader to do what was necessary to restore Russia’s standing in the world.” The “real threats” to U.S. interests were “Islamic fundamentalism, terrorism, global governance and, potentially, China.” In the view of Keene and Devine, the Clinton administration was wrong for wanting to “want[ing] to scold [the Russians] every time they slip a democracy lesson!”

American Conservative Union director of online communications David M. Keene — the 21 year-old son of ACU chair David Keene — was sentenced to ten years in prison in 2003 after he shot at the driver of another vehicle from his BMW on the George Washington Memorial Parkway in northern Virginia. Keene missed the other driver’s head by inches according to police reports.

In 2004, United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin made his first known visit to the United States of America. Torshin was known to have ties to the Federal Security Service (FSB), the intelligence agency formerly known as the KGB. Torshin also had ties to the Taganskaya mob in Moscow going back to the mid-1990s. Torshin had previously worked as a mid-level official at Russia’s Central Bank, where he befriended one of his subordinates, Alexander Romanov. When Torshin went into politics and became a senator, Romanov became an executive at the Rosneft energy company and gained notoriety for engaging in illicit business with the Taganskaya mafia.

On December 28, 2005, a parliamentary commission chaired by United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin released a report that cleared Russian president Vladimir Putin of wrong-doing in a botched attempt to rescue hostages. The rescue attempt occurred after Ingush and Chechen militants took 1,100 hostages at a school in Beslan, Russia. Russian Security Forces stormed the campus on September 1, 2004 and initiated a siege that lasted for three days. 334 people — including 186 children — were killed in the fighting. Torshin’s commission exonerated Putin and the Russian military and blamed local officials in Beslan for the casualty totals.

United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin chaired a parliamentary commission that cleared president Vladimir Putin and the Russian military of wrong-doing in the disastrous 2004 siege of a school in Beslan.

Conservative attorney G. Kline Preston invited a Russian embassy official in the U.S. to attend a Fabergé egg exhibition in Nashville, Tennesee with him in 2007. The two struck up a friendship and the embassy official introduced Preston to United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin. Preston said he “provided legal advice on Russian law to Torshin.” At this time, Preston was also serving as the “Current President, Marsha Blackburn for Congress, Inc.” Preston originally became involved in Blackburn’s campaign operation in 2003, just after the Tennessee state senator was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in the state’s 7th congressional district. According to Preston’s website, he would remain involved until 2014.

In June 2008, legendary American businessman Maurice “Hank” Greenberg’s Starr Russia Investments III fund bought 20 percent of Investtorgbank, a Russian bank. The fund paid about $100 million for its share of Investtorgbank.

Greenberg is a major Republican donor, a former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the former CEO/chair of insurance and financial services giant AIG. Greenberg was forced out of AIG in 2005 for his role in a fraudulent transaction that made the company’s financial position appear to be stronger than it really was. Greenberg is also a social friend and former client of Nixon Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. In 1987, Greenberg appointed Kissinger as chairman of AIG’s International Advisory Board.

NRA board member David Keene joined the board of directors of the pro-Russia Center for the National Interest (CFTNI) in 2009, according to the organization’s 990 records. CFTNI was established by the administration of Republican President Richard Nixon. Its board of directors includes former AIG CEO Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, former Nixon Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and a Russian-born confidant of president Vladimir Putin, Dimitri Simes.

In May 2009, the Russian Ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kisylak, requested that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin meet with United Russia senator Alexander Torshin, who was visiting the state. Palin turned down the request, but the lieutenant governor of Alaska, Sean Parnell, agreed to a sit-down with Torshin. Parnell said the following to NPR about his meeting with the Russian legislator: “It wouldn’t be unusual for Alaska’s Lt. Governor to take a meeting with a visiting foreign dignitary, especially if the Governor’s Office had been approached first by the visitor/visiting delegation to schedule a meeting and the governor had declined.”

In August 2009, American businessman Maurice “Hank” Greenberg’s Starr Russia Investments III fund invested an additional $8 million in the Russian bank Investtorgbank.

In 2010, Alexander Torshin, a Senator in Russian president Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party, “penned a glossy gun rights pamphlet, illustrated by cartoon figures wielding guns to fend off masked robbers. The booklet cited U.S. statistics to argue for gun ownership, at one point echoing in Russian an old NRA slogan: ‘Guns don’t shoot — people shoot.’”

In 2010, United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin hosted a delegation of 15 student body presidents from American universities as part of an exchange program in Moscow. The program was sponsored by the Russian Cultural Center and focused on “youth affairs.” Sessions were conducted in the “ornate chambers of the Russian parliament.” Before their meeting with Torshin, the students were warned by the then-National Security Council director for Russian affairs Michael McFaul and other White House officials that the program could be a Russian influence operation in disguise.

A page from Alexander Torshin’s gun rights pamphlet, which echoed NRA-speak.

On February 23, 2010, the National Rifle Association and Las Vegas-based gun manufacturer Arsenal, Inc. announced the sale of 500 limited-edition gold- and silver-plated AK-74s, with proceeds going to the NRA’s lobbying arm, the Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA). “Each [rifle] features engravings in dedication of Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov’s 90th birthday, 35 years of AK-74 production, the Izhmash factory logo, and Dr. Kalashnikov’s signature,” read the announcement. “Besides honoring the great [gun] designer, Dr. Kalashnikov, this project is intended to bring the West and the East together, as well as to eliminate the negative stigma attached by some to the AK rifle.” [AK-style rifles were originally designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov and manufactured by the arms factory Izhmash in the former Soviet Union.] The silver rifles sold for $3,500 each, the gold ones $5,000 each. All told, the auction raised $1.9 million for the NRA-ILA.

The World Russia Forum was held in the Senate Hart Building in Washington, D.C. on April 26, 2010 to “commemorate the Elbe River Linkage and WWII Victory.” The event was co-organized by United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin, an ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin, and Dr. Edward Lonzansky, a “conservative movement insider.”

Opening remarks were provided by the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Daniel Russell, and Sergey Kislyak, the Russian Ambassador to the United States. At a luncheon, Torshin spoke on a panel with the following U.S. Congressmen: Bill Delahunt (D-MA), Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Carl Levin (D-MI), and Dana Rohrarbacher (R-CA). The vice-chair of the American Conservative Union, Donald Devine, spoke on a panel in the afternoon titled “Reset in U.S.-Russia Relations.” “Russia should not be looked at from a Cold War perspective,” Devine told those in attendance. “It shouldn’t be looked at as essentially the enemy. We should look at it as a great power which has enormous capacities to do good or do ill.”

On October 21, 2010, the Skolkovo Foundation chaired by Victor Vekselberg held an event at their technology center outside Moscow, Russia. The featured speakers at the event were California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak. In attendance were United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin and his American counsel G. Kline Preston; California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher; assistant to the Russian president Arkady Dvorkovich, and; American Alan Page, the father of Global Energy Capital founder Carter Page. After the speeches, Vekselberg’s Renova Group signed a deal to provide financing for the maintenance of Fort Ross, a former Russian settlement in California.

On February 9, 2011, scandal-plagued American Conservative Union (ACU) chair David Keene resigned his position on the eve of the organization’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Keene had served as ACU chair since 1984, but was implicated in the embezzlement of as much as $400,000 in donor money from the organization’s coffers between 2006 and 2009 (approximate ACU annual budget at time: $1.5 million). Keene blamed the crime on his ex-wife, Diana Carr, who worked at ACU as “administrative director” despite suffering from “extensive mental health problems.”

Keene’s ouster was also prompted by his decision to let a Republican group that advocates for LGTBQ rights, GOProud, participate at CPAC. Additionally, Center for Security Policy founder Frank Gaffney charged that ACU had fallen under the sway of the Muslim Brotherhood during Keene’s watch.

David Keene during his 2011–2013 tenure as NRA president. Keene, the former ACU chair, was arguably the most powerful and politically influential president the NRA ever had.

United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin met with another group of leading students from American universities in March 2011 as part of a “youth affairs” program organized by the Russian Cultural Center in Washington, D.C.

On March 2, 2011, Russian president Vladimir Putin told the Russian state news agency TASS that he was “deeply convinced that the free flow of firearms will bring a great harm and represents a great danger for us … Moreover, I believe that it is necessary to tighten the distribution rules.”

The National Rifle Association conducted its annual meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from April 29-May 1, 2011 and elected board member David Keene as the new president of the organization. Keene credited NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre with getting him more involved with NRA leadership. United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin attended the meeting and met with Keene at a hotel restaurant in Pittsburgh. That meeting was arranged by conservative Nashville lawyer G. Kline Preston IV. “[Torshin] was interested in the NRA so I hooked him up,” recalled Preston, who keeps a porcelain bust of Russian president Vladimir Putin in his office. “He wanted to learn from the best and that’s the NRA when it comes to gun rights.”

On May 7, 2011, NRA president David Keene wrote a thank you letter to United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin. “Just a brief note to let you know just how much I enjoyed our meeting in Pittsburgh during the NRA annual meeting,” Keene wrote. “As I indicated, you and your colleagues will receive a formal invitation to next year’s meeting in St. Louis. For planning purposes, you may wish to note that it will be held on April 12–17th, 2012.”

The Russian Weapons Company (RWC) was established in June 2011 in Tullytown, Pennsylvania with Eldad Oz as manager. The brother of Eldad is Moshe Oz, a former Israeli commando turned arms dealer who runs a tactical gear company, CAA.

On June 6, 2011, NRA president David Keene’s ex-wife Diana Carr pleaded guilty to mail fraud for embezzling $120,000 to $400,000 from the American Conservative Union (ACU) during the period of 2006–2009. At the time, Carr was the ACU’s administrative director reporting to Keene, the ACU’s chair from 1984 until his forced resignation in February 2011.

In the “President’s Column” in the September 2011 issue of the NRA’s America’s 1st Freedom magazine, David Keene announced he was appointing lawyer John Bolton to be chair of the NRA’s international affairs subcommittee. Bolton served in the Reagan and Bush administrations, where he gained a reputation as a war hawk. “[Bolton] may not be in the State Department anymore, but he’s as dedicated to preserving the Second Amendment as any NRA member and will be advising us on strategy as we confront our opponents in [the United Nations],” wrote Keene. At the time, the U.N. was considering a treaty to halt the illicit trade of small arms globally. Keene’s paranoid view of the U.N. and opposition to the treaty was shared by Bolton, who told NRATV host Cam Edwards in 2009: “[The Obama administration] will use [the small arms treaty] as an excuse to get [gun control] domestically [that] they couldn’t otherwise.”

Fifty-seven year-old Diana Carr, the ex-wife of NRA president David Keene, was sentenced to a year in federal prison on September 16, 2011 after pleading guilty to one count of mail fraud for embezzling more than $300,000 from the American Conservative Union (ACU). Carr worked there as administrative director and reported to Keene, who served as the ACU’s chair from 1984 until his forced resignation in 2011.

In March 2011, Russian president Vladimir Putin told TASS he was“deeply convinced that the free flow of firearms will bring great harm to us.”

In late 2011, an enigmatic young Russian national Muria Butina founded a fake gun rights group called The Right to Bear Arms with assistance from United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin. Butina gained national prominence when she competed in the Youth Primaries of the Young Guard of United Russia, designed to cultivate new political talent for the Kremlin. Prior to that she had worked at a Siberian furniture store. “[The Right to Bear Arms] was created as the Russian version of the NRA, and we wanted to have as much NRA involvement as possible,” explained a member of the group.

The Right to Bear Arms was funded by oligarch Konstantin Nikolaev, a Russian billionaire with investments in U.S. energy and technology companies, from 2012 to 2014. The group listed more than 20 “honorary members” on its website, most of them hardliner nationalists with Rodina and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. They were characterized as “individuals who make decisions on a national scale, as well as opinion leaders” who associate with The Right to Bear Arms by consent. Radicals like LDPR leaders Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who blames Jews for WWII and the Holocaust, and Ilya Drozdov, who called for Ukraine to be “wiped off the map,” appeared on the list. Also on the list was Alexei Zhuravlev, the Rodina party leader. Rodina supports the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, which has openly recruited and organized U.S. secessionists and neo-Nazis.

The Right to Bear Arms purported to be interested in loosening Russia’s gun laws, but despite their high-level advisers no progress was ever made. Russia continues to have very restrictive gun laws to this day. Civilians are unable to own handguns and must license and register long guns. “The checks [are] incredibly hard just for a shotgun,” Butina admitted. “For a rifle, you have to have been an owner of a shotgun with no problems with the law.” The NRA has never voiced any criticism of Russia’s gun laws.

Maria Butina’s image appears tailor-made to appeal to American pro-gun activists. This gun porn photo appeared in the April 2014 edition of Russia’s GQ magazine.

On December 4, 2011, Nashville lawyer G. Kline Preston served as an international observer of the parliamentary elections in Russia, calling them “impressive” and “very well organized.” The elections led to massive street protests in Moscow because of alleged ballot-rigging.

Saul Anuzis, a former chair of the Michigan GOP and Republican National Committee (RNC) technology panel, was appointed by the NRA board of directors to serve on the organization’s Public Affairs Committee in 2012.

GOP operative/NRA life member Paul Erickson joined the board of directors of the American Conservative Union (ACU) in 2012.

In 2012, Alexander Ionov founded the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AGMR). Ianov is a prolific Russian lawyer and businessman whose “work to strengthen friendship between peoples” has been commended by Russian President Vladimir Putin. AGMR has been used as a tool to disrupt and damage Western democracies since its creation. Ionov also runs Ionov Transcontinental, a private contracting firm.

In January 2012, the Russian Weapons Company (RWC) in Tullytown, Pennsylvania began operations as the exclusive U.S. importer of Izhmash Saiga rifles and shotguns manufactured in Russia (based on the original AK-47 designs by Mikhail Kalashnikov).

On February 29, 2012, United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin tweeted, “We will start organizing our own Russian NRA [after Russia’s presidential election on March 4, 2012].”

United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin met with another group of leading students from American universities in March 2012 as part of a cultural exchange program organized by the Russian Cultural Center in Washington, D.C.

From April 12–15, 2012, the NRA’s annual meeting was conducted in St. Louis, Missouri under the theme “A Celebration of American Values.” United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin attended the meeting again, this time as a VIP Guest of NRA president David Keene.

On April 15, 2012, Alexander Torshin tweeted about having just returned from the NRA’s annual meeting in St. Louis. He noted that he was attending a rally of the The Right to Bear Arms in Moscow that same day.

A group of leading American undergraduate students having tea and cookies with United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin in March 2012. Michael Yaroshefsky, then-Student Body president at Princeton University, is on the left.

Gun designer Mikhail Kalashnikov wrote a letter to the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriach Kirill of Moscow, in May 2012 to express the anguish he felt over designing a weapon that had taken so many lives globally since 1949, the AK-47 assault rifle. “My spiritual pain is unbearable,” Kalashnikov told Kirill. “I keep having the same unsolved question: if my rifle claimed people’s lives, then can it be that I…a Christian and an Orthodox believer, was to blame for their deaths?”

United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin and his “assistant” Maria Butina appeared before the Russian Senate on July 24, 2012—just four days after the mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado in which 70 Americans were shot in just two minutes by a single gunman. Torshin and Butina advocated for more permissive gun laws in Russia, including civilian access to handguns, but their proposal was rejected by senators. Another speaker that day in favor of loosening Russia’s gun laws was American attorney G. Kline Peterson. He related the following to Think Progress:

[Maria] was there not to meet me, but she was there because she was lobbying for this law that was being discussed [to liberalize gun laws in Russia]. And I just met her in passing. Like, you know, “Hey, this is Maria Butina, she’s with such and such.” “Oh, hey.” Whatever. That was it. And then I circled back around and saw her with Torshin later.

On November 6, 2012, conservative lawyer G. Kline Preston observed voting at the polls in Nashville, Tennessee with guest Alexander Torshin, a United Russia Senator, and Russian diplomat Igor Mateev. Torshin was allowed to inspect electronic voting machines and election queues. Both Preston and Torshin claimed they witnessed violations of U.S. law. While in Tennessee, Torshin also met with Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-7th) in her home county, Williamson County. Preston was still working on Blackburn’s political campaigns at the time.

United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin tweeted a photo of himself standing outside the headquarters of the NRA headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia on November 8, 2012. Torshin was there to speak to the NRA’s legislative affairs committee per the request of NRA president David Keene.

Right after observing voting in Tennessee during the 2012 U.S. election, Putin lieutenant Alexander Torshin made a stop at the Virginia HQ of the NRA.

United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin spoke to journalist Julia Ioffe at the New Republic for a November 16, 2012 article titled “The Rise of Russia’s Gun Nuts.” Torshin told her he was attracted to the NRA because it represents “stability,” which Ioffe described as “the credo of [Russian president Vladimir] Putin’s reign.”

About 80 people gathered in a square in Moscow, Russia on December 1, 2012 for a rally hosted by The Right to Bear Arms, the gun rights group headed by Russian agent Maria Butina. Most attendees “carried nationalist flags or displayed nationalist insignia.”

Speaking to reporter Glenn Kates of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty for a December 20, 2012 article, Russian spy Maria Butina addressed the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school in the United States, which had happened six days earlier. She echoed the NRA’s talking points about “gun-free zones,”stating, “In this shooting six teachers died, six people who could literally use only their hands to defend children. The murderer planned this knowing that no one would be armed.”

United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin met with another group of leading students from American universities in March 2013 as part of a cultural exchange program organized by the Russian Cultural Center in Washington, DC.

NRA operations director Kyle Weaver, outgoing NRA president David Keene, and United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin at the 2013 NRA meeting in Houston. The head of the NRA’s “Ring of Freedom” program for top donors, Joe Gregory, can be seen in the mirror along with then-NRA second vice president Pete Brownell.

Russian agent Maria Butina’s front pro-gun group, The Right to Bear Arms, conducted a rally in Moscow, Russia on April 21, 2013. Among the speakers was high-ranking State Duma official Vladimir Ovsyannikov, who also serves as vice president for government relations of Ionov Transcontinental, a private contracting firm. Ionov Transcontinental is run by Alexander Ionov, the Kremlin-connected lawyer/businessman who founded the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AGMR) in 2012.

From May 2–5, 2013, United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin attended his third straight NRA annual meeting, this time in Houston, Texas. NRA leaders presented Torshin with a rifle as a gift and he bragged on Twitter: “Three thousand delegates of the NRA Congress greeted me with an ovation!” He also shared pictures of a private “Golden Ring of Freedom” event for the NRA’s largest donors. Jim Porter was elected as the new NRA president at the meeting, replacing David Keene, who retained his seat on the NRA board of directors. Torshin was photographed with Keene and NRA director of operations Kyle Weaver at the meeting. Weaver worked directly under NRA CEO and executive vice president Wayne LaPierre.

On June 14, 2013, Spain’s Civil Guard (Guardia Civil) reported that United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin was laundering money for the Taganskaya mafia in Moscow through banks and properties in Spain. They recorded 33 phone conversations that Torshin had with Taganskaya boss Alexander Romanov (his former subordinate at the Russian Central Bank) in 2012 and 2013, and seized relevant documents during a raid. “Within the hierarchical structure of the organization, it’s known that Russian politician Alexander Porfirievich Torshin stands above Taganskaya leader in Spain, Alexander Romanov, who calls him ‘godfather’ or ‘boss’ and conducts ‘activities and investments’ on his behalf,” the Civil Guard concluded.

NRA board member and former NRA president David Keene was hired as the opinion editor of the Washington Times on July 14, 2013.

Two Russian arms manufacturers, Izhmash and Izhmekh, merged on August 13, 2013 to create the Kalashnikov Concern, the largest arms manufacturer in the country.

In the fall of 2013, the FBI abruptly stopped American participation in a Russian cultural exchange program that involved meetings between leading American undergraduate students and top-ranking Russian officials, including United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin. The FBI determined the Russian program was a “Washington-based Russian spy recruiting effort.” “They said they had a great degree of confidence that the trips were part of an effort to spot and assess future intelligence assets,” reported one student who participated in the program after meeting with FBI agents. “They told us it was standard Russian spycraft.”

The Moscow Times reported on October 3, 2013 that the private arms manufacturer ORSIS would be making a “sporting” version of its military sniper rifle, the T-5000, for sale to civilians. The T-5000 was dubbed the “Rogozin rifle” because of the closeness of the Russian deputy prime minister in charge of the defense industry, Dmitry Rogozin, to ORSIS.

Russian agent Maria Butina made a presentation to an Israeli pro-gun group, the Association for the Promotion of Weapons Culture (APWC), on October 12, 2013. APWC posted on Facebook after her talk, writing in Hebrew that Butina claimed her group The Right to Bear Arms had “signed cooperation agreements with neighboring countries and with the American NRA.” According to Butina, APWC was “probably next in line.” One of the slides in Butina’s presentation also touted “cooperation” with the Texas-based International Defensive Pistol Association.

Alexander Torshin is called “godfather” or“boss” by the leader of the Taganskaya mafia in Moscow.

On October 30, 2013, Russian agent Maria Butina picked up NRA board member and past president David Keene and his “body man,” GOP operative/NRA life member Paul Erickson, at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport. The two men were in town to attend a meeting of Butina’s fake gun rights group, The Right to Bear Arms.

From October 31 — November 1, 2013, Russian agent Maria Butina conducted a meeting of her front pro-gun group, The Right to Bear Arms, in Moscow. United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin and former presidential candidate Roman Khudyakov formally joined the group during a “solemn” initiation ceremony. Khudyahkov serves as vice president of Ionov Transcontinental, a private contracting firm. Ionov Transcontinental is run by Alexander Ionov, the Kremlin-connected lawyer/businessman who founded the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AGMR) in 2012.

The lead-off speaker at the meeting was Alan Gottlieb, president of the Seattle, Washington-based Second Amendment Foundation (SAF). Gottlieb’s wife, SAF director of operations Julianne Versnel, also spoke. Just months earlier, Versnel had testified on behalf of SAF at the United Nations, objecting to the exclusion of gun rights provisions from a U.N. small arms trade treaty. “If there is a right to not be a victim of sexual or personal violence, then that right involves the right to defend one’s self,” she told U.N. delegates. Following Versnel at the podium was NRA board member and past president David Keene. He told the audience it was a “great honor” to be at the conference “because over the course of the last three years, I’ve hosted your Senator Alexander Torshin at the National Rifle Association’s annual meetings. We need to work together.”

Joining Keene at The Right to Bear Arms meeting was GOP operative/NRA Life Member Paul Erickson. The “cultural” program at the event featured an exhibition of images by pro-gun photographer Olga Volk (one of the stranger “honorary members” of The Right to Bear Arms) and a concealed carry fashion show. Volk achieved notoriety in American pro-gun circles by frequently posing women and babies with assault rifles for his online memes.

Alan Gottlieb reported that during The Right to Bear Arms meeting, Torshin and Butina took him and his wife out for dinner “and gave them gifts that displayed research into their interests — exotic fabric for Gottlieb’s wife, a needlepoint enthusiast, and for Gottlieb, “commemorative stamps that Torshin received as a member of the Russian legislature.”

Butina and Erickson worked together at an event put on by The Right to Bear Arms in late 2013 and became a busy pair over the ensuing months.

On November 1, 2013, Russian agent Maria Butina tweeted a photo of herself and GOP operative/NRA Life Member Paul Erickson taken at The Right to Bear Arms meeting in Moscow. A charging affadavit from the U.S. Department of Justice notes that “in or around 2013” an “American political operative” identified as “U.S. Person 1” (Erickson) first met Butina in Moscow. According to the affadavit, they began working to “jointly arrange introductions to U.S. persons having influence in American politics, including an organization promoting gun rights [the NRA].”

CAA Tactical owner Moshe Oz spoke to the Israeli business magazine Globes for a November 13, 2013 article about increased sales of the company’s 30-bullet magazines following the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre in Newtown, Connecticut. “The economic situation in the U.S. is not great, and the firearms industry generates tremendous amounts of money and is a major growth engine,” said Oz. “The solution for extreme situations, such as these criminal massacres, is simply to increase security. It creates more jobs and prevents crazy acts of violence. An attacker will not choose a target that is secured.” The article also mentioned Oz’s factory in Pennsylvania managed by his brother Eldad, which goes by the name Russian Weapons Company.

On December 10, 2013, The Right to Bear Arms posted a video address the group received from lawyer John Bolton, the chair of the NRA’s international affairs subcommittee. The video was shown to the The Right to Bear Arms’ members during a meeting in Russia, at which spy and group founder Maria Butina was present. In his address, Bolton spoke about the Second Amendment and what gun rights mean to him.

On December 23, 2013, Mikhail Kalashnikov, the famed gun designer who invented the AK-47 for the Soviet Army, died at the age of 94.

The NRA received a $4.9 million grant from Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce in 2014. FPCC is the financial hub of the conservative advocacy network funded by the billionaire Koch brothers.

The NRA and the Outdoor Channel announced a new partnership in January 2014. A press statement said the partnership “brings together the top two brands in the outdoor arena, spans a variety of platforms including programming, events, advertising, marketing and digital initiatives. As a result of the strength of their combined assets, Outdoor Channel and the NRA will reach an audience of more than 45 million outdoor enthusiasts.” This included Outdoor Channel sponsoring the NRA’s “Great American Outdoor Show.”

In January 2014, the Kalashnikov Concern announced plans to export 200,000 firearms a year to the U.S. via the Russian Weapons Company (RWC).

“Diplomat” John Bolton had taken a hard line against Vladimir Putin for years, but like friend and former NRA president David Keene, he changed tack entirely.

On January 2, 2014, NRA board member and Washington Times opinion editor David Keene published an op-ed by United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin titled “Kalashnikov, the Man and the Weapon.” In the op-ed, Torshin eulogized his recently deceased “friend and colleague” Mikhail Kalashnikov, and said the gun designer’s invention of the AK-47 assault rifle was one of Russia’s “greatest accomplishments.” Torshin added, “Last year, I had the pleasure of attending the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in Houston. Kalashnikov couldn’t join me, though we have both been ‘life members’ of the NRA for years.”

In February 2014, Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s deputy prime minister in charge of the defense industry and head of Russia’s cyberwar unit, approved Alexey Krivoruchko as CEO of Kalashnikov Concern and allowed him to buy a 49 percent stake in the company along with two oligarchs close to president Vladimir Putin: Andrei Bokarev and Iskander Makhmudov. The other 51 percent of the company remained under the control of state company Rostec. Krivoruchko is a career executive in Russian state companies who has enjoyed support from Sergey Chemezov, head of Rostec, during his career.

Vladimir Putin and Alexander Torshin have frequently used Mikhail Kalashnikov’s name and image to promote the virtues of a militarized Russia. But the AK-47 designer died with some reservations about his invention.

In late February 2014, the Russian military invaded the territory of Crimea in the sovereign nation of Ukraine, sparking an international crisis.

On February 27, 2014, United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin tweeted, “Republicans are the bones of the NRA. Great political victories are ahead of you!”

The United States enacted its first round of sanctions on March 6, 2014 in response to Russia’s illegal invasion of Crimea. The sanctions targeted individuals and companies, banning their travel to the United States and freezing their domestically-held financial assets.

Russian spy Maria Butina attended the 2014 plenary session of the World Forum on Shooting Activities (WFSA) in Nuremberg, Germany on March 6, 2014. Also in attendance was NRA board member and former president Sandy Froman, who spoke on a panel titled “Breaking Gender Barriers.” The panel focused on women’s role in the shootings sports and firearms lobbying. The WFSA is an official United Nations Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) recognized by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations General Assembly.

U.S. President Barack Obama signed an executive order on March 17, 2014 authorizing a second round of U.S. sanctions against Russia for its illegal invasion of Crimea. The sanctions targeted seven Russian individuals, including the deputy prime minister in charge of Russia’s defense industry, Dmitry Rogozin. Rogozin was also the head of Russia’s “social networks” unit. On the same day, Russian agent Maria Butina posted a blog, writing that U.S. sanctions would “bankrupt the Russian arms industry” and were therefore “a direct threat to [Russia’s] national security.”

On March 18, 2014, Russian president Vladimir Putin signed legislation annexing the Ukranian territory of Crimea. United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin was present at the ceremony.

Russian agent Maria Butina talked to the newspaper New Sevastopol on March 19, 2014 and said that because “security problems” in Crimea would persist, there was a need for Russia to develop civilian “self-defense units” (militias) to control the local population.

During the weekend of March 25, 2014, Russian agent Maria Butina conducted a press conference in Crimea with Sergei Veselovsky, a leader of a pro-Russian separatist group, the Crimean Front. Butina boasted of her Kremlin connections and mentioned a civilian gun initiative undertaken by Dmitry Rogozin, the deputy defense minister in charge of Russia’s defense industry. She also said her group The Right to Bear Arms planned to expand into Crimea. The press conference was conducted at the formerly independent Crimean Center for Investigative Journalism. During Russia’s invasion of Crimea, the Crimean Front decried the influence of “American agents” at the center and stormed its offices with armed men. After local journalists fled, the center was re-branded as the pro-Russian “News Front.” It is reportedly funded by the Russian security services and publishes stories attacking U.S. sanctions on Russia and special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the campaign/transition/administration of Republican president Donald Trump.

Russian agent Maria Butina posted the following to her LiveJournal blog on April 25, 2014: “I only got a visa to the United States for annual NRA meetings on the third try. Before that, I missed these congresses for two years because of the opposition of the American government bureaucracy. Finally, the leadership of the NRA itself [came] to visit us [at The Right to Bear Arms conference in late October 2013], after which it was possible to prove that I would not stay in the US, and I went there on business.”

From April 25–27 2014, United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin attended his fourth straight NRA annual meeting, this time with Maria Butina in tow. At the meeting (in Indianapolis, Indiana), Butina met NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre, was given the “rare privilege” of ringing a Liberty Bell replica during a Ring of Freedom event for the NRA’s top donors, and presented NRA president Jim Porter with a special plaque from her group The Right to Bear Arms. She was also a special guest of two former NRA presidents at the meeting: Sandy Froman at the NRA’s Women Luncheon, and David Keene during the general meeting. “We would like to be friends with the NRA,” she told the media.

Russian spy Maria Butina at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, the home state of lover Paul Erickson. “I thought the work was more ancient,” she observed.

At an auction during the meeting, Butina took photos of Arsenal, Inc.’s limited-edition gold- and silver-plated AK-74s signed by Mikhail Kalashnikov which helped raise money for the NRA’s lobbying arm, the Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), in 2010. She also socialized with NRA board member David Keene and Milwaukee County (Wisconsin) sheriff David A. Clarke, Jr. during her time in Indianapolis.

Russian agent Maria Butina visited South Dakota for the first time following the NRA meeting in Indianapolis, traveling with GOP operative/NRA Life Member Paul Erickson to his home town of Sioux Falls. There she toured Mount Rushmore, took pilot lessons, and hunted pheasants with locals. “When she was connecting on a very local level, she was getting information on how our society works and building her backstory,” said Alex Finley, a former CIA operations officer. “She was figuring out how things work. What are the political divisions on the local level? What could you exploit?” Sioux Falls resident Nicole Allen added, “It’s a rural, gun-loving state so I believe that’s why it was perfect for her mission.”

The United States imposed a second round of sanctions on Russia on April 28, 2014 for its illegal invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea. This time seven Russian officials and 17 Russian companies were targeted.

Maria Butina was treated like royalty by the NRA leadership at their 2014 annual meeting in Indianapolis. Here she is with NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre.

On May 6, 2014, Russian agent Maria Butina visited the Alexandria, Virginia offices of the American Conservative Union (ACU), where lover and GOP operative/NRA life member Paul Erickson served on the board of directors. Later that day, she tweeted a photo of herself and NRA board member David Keene standing outside the NRA’S HQ in Fairfax, Virginia. “An experience at the Washington office of the NRA” she boasted. Butina was allowed to shoot at the NRA’s indoor range. Keene served as the chair of the ACU from 1984–2011.

Kremlin official Marika Korotaeva texted “Hey. Help please” to her boss Timur Prokopenko, the head of internal politics for Russian president Vladimir Putin, after Butina’s visit to NRA HQ. She continued: “Butina (for legalization of weapons)…now posts pictures with the President of the US gunsmiths now at the main office in Virginia. Against the background of statements about the supply of arms to Ukraine. I ask your help.”

Conservative pundit Katie Pavlich published a two-part series of interviews with Russian agent Maria Butina at Townhall on May 6–7, 2014. The interviews took place at the NRA’s annual meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana two weekends prior. Butina indicated her visa to travel to the U.S. was approved “just days before” the meeting started. “[The Right to Bear Arms] would like to be friends with NRA,” she told Pavlich, referencing the fake gun rights group she created in 2011 with the assistance of United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin and pro-Putin oligarch Konstantin Nikolaev. Butina cited Torshin and NRA board member David Keene as the backbone of her group’s relationship with the American gun lobby.

Washington Times opinion editor David Keene published a self-written op-ed on May 12, 2014. Keene serves as a board member at the NRA and the pro-Russia Center for the National Interest. In the op-ed, he criticized President Barack Obama, the European Union, and NATO, writing:

The United States and the European Union spent millions of dollars proselytizing inside Ukraine, urging those within that troubled nation who identify with the West rather than Russia to seek membership in the EU, with the hope that like other former possessions of the Soviet Union, she might not just gravitate toward the West but, eventually, even join the NATO alliance … The consequences have been both tragic and predictable. Russian President Vladimir Putin was about a hundred times more committed to preventing Ukraine from moving west as the EU was to promoting it … It is clear that Mr. Putin understands his country’s history and the power of nationalism.

On June 11, 2014, Russian agent Maria Butina gave a speech at a Moscow rally. She endorsed Russia’s invasion of Crimea and called on the crowd to support Russian separatists fighting elsewhere in Ukraine. Butina also claimed ethnic Russians were being oppressed in Ukraine. “We can’t allow this,” she declared. “And that’s why, today, let’s support our guys, our citizens of Russia who today are helping, who are fighting for freedom.”

Former George W. Bush administration official Matt Schlapp was elected chairman of the American Conservative Union (ACU) on June 19, 2014. Shortly thereafter, he removed GOP operative/NRA Life Member from the ACU board of directors over “concern about his track record.” Erickson had “left a trail of fraud lawsuits accusing him of peddling worthless investments in oil fields and medical equipment.” Conservative publicist and writer L. Brent Bozell warned ACU personally after Erickson persuaded him to invest $200,000 in the “Compass Care” scheme.

On June 20, 2014, Russian agent Maria Butina hosted an event in Crimea with a gun company based out of Moscow to advocate for the arming of locals under Russian law.

On July 7, 2014, the newspaper Pravda reported that Russia was seeking to export ORSIS sniper rifles in an attempt to develop new markets for the country’s small arms manufacturers. The rifle, the T-5000, is known for its ability to penetrate body armor and was dubbed the “Rogozin rifle” because of ORSIS’ connection to the deputy prime minister in charge of Russia’s defense industry, Dmitry Rogozin. Rogozin’s son ran ORSIS for a short time. According to Pravda, “Defense officials from the Philippines and Pakistan evinced interest in the so-called Rogozin rifle, advertised by [Russian president Vladimir] Putin and [American actor] Steven Seagal. The countries offered to test sniper rifle ORSIS T-5000 on their territory. Similar proposals came from Malaysia and Indonesia.”

Maria Butina with NRA board member (and former NRA pres.) David Keene in May 2014. She had access to the group’s top leaders.

As part of a third round of sanctions against Russia for its illegal invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Foreign Assets Control Office (OFAC) added Kalashnikov Concern to its list of sanctioned companies on July 16, 2014. This action blocked American companies, including the Russians Weapon Company (RWC) in Pennsylvania, from negotiating new contracts for the purchase of firearms manufactured by Kalashnikov Concern. This blocked RWC from importing Izhmash Saiga rifles and shotguns, effectively ending the company’s line of business in the United States.

In a Russian interview, spy Maria Butina argued that Russian firearm manufacturers like Kalashnikov Concern were among the companies “most impacted” by U.S. sanctions in response to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea.

The National Rifle Association issued an angry statement on July 17, 2014 in response to the U.S. Treasury Department’s decision to sanction Russian arms giant Kalashnikov Concern a day earlier, writing:

The only decent product ever produced by the USSR was the AK-47. After the breakup of the USSR and the end of Cold War, Russia has continued to produce well-regarded AK-pattern rifles that have become popular among American gun owners … While the United States government blames the Ukrainian conflict for this latest move, gun control advocates will no doubt applaud the ban on…so-called “assault weapons” … Whatever the true basis of the current decision might be, import restrictions have long been used by the executive branch as a means of unilaterally enacting gun control … These latest sanctions will no doubt engender the idea among some that the Treasury Department is using a geopolitical crisis as a convenient excuse to advance the president’s domestic anti-gun agenda. We will continue to look for opportunities to block the Obama administration’s anti-gun agenda whether through the legal, legislative or political arenas.

On July 31, 2014, Russian agent Maria Butina hosted another event in Crimea with a gun company based out of Moscow to advocate for the arming of locals under Russian law.

On September 3, 2014, The Right to Bear Arms hosted an “open meeting” in Moscow featuring NRA life member/GOP operative Paul Erickson as speaker. Russian agent Maria Butina’s promotion for the event said Erickson was a “gun collector, a Christian and airplane aficionado who had served as a political consultant in six presidential campaigns.”

The Russian state company Rostec was sanctioned by the United States on September 12, 2014 for its role in Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea. Rostec has a financial relationship with several arms manufacturers in Russia, including Kalashnikov Concern (sanctioned by U.S. in July 2014) and Tula Arms Plant/TulAmmo (sanctioned by European Union in 2014 and Canada in 2015). TulAmmo has a U.S. subsidiary, TulAmmo USA, that distributes ammunition manufactured by Tula Cartridge Works in Russia out of a headquarters in Round Rock, Texas.

On November 21, 2014, Russian spy Maria Butina published a blog post with the title, “According to supporters of the U.S. Democratic Party, Russians cannot be trusted with weapons.”

Russia amended its Federal Law on Weapons on November 26, 2014, granting individuals the right to use guns for personal self defense in the home, but simultaneously tightening the gun licensing process and safe storage requirements.

In December 2014, GOP operative/NRA life member Paul Erickson received $8,000 in two wires from spy Maria Butina’s Alfa Bank account in Russia. Butina noted the funds were for “grant assistant.”

The Russian Central Bank began auditing Investtorgbank’s books in December 2014. Lawyers for American businessman Maurice “Hank” Greenberg’s fund, Starr Russia Investments III, said Investtorgbank chairman Vladimir Gudkov and others in the bank “engaged in egregious self-dealing, frittering away tens of millions of dollars.” Russian government auditors concluded that Investtorgbank was insolvent by the end of 2014. During the decline of Investtorgbank:

[Russian spy Maria] Butina appeared to be aware that the Russian bank in which Greenberg had invested was in trouble … She approached his Starr investment empire and recommended he invest more money in the flailing bank. The move left observers shocked and disturbed — a little-known twenty-something who was closely linked to a top official in the Russian Central Bank appeared to be telling a major American financier how to handle his Russia investments … Dimitri Simes, the president of the Center for the National Interest, learned about Butina’s outreach … He communicated to her that she needed to drop it.

In 2014, Russian arms manufacturer Kalashnikov Concern generated its first operating net profit in seven years (88 million rubles).

In 2015, NRA board member and former president David Keene replaced longtime NRA lawyer Cleta Mitchell as a director and secretary of the NRA Freedom Action Foundation (NRA-FAF). The NRA-FAF runs the organization’s “non-partisan voter registration program” called “Trigger the Vote.” The foundation also engages in “viral online advertising and social media.” Most of NRA-FAF’s expenditures are to “Federal Capital Communications” in Alexandria, Virginia. FCC’s listed owner is Patrick O’Malley.

Russian agent Maria Butina attended the NRA Winter Board Meeting in Birmingham, Alabama in January 2015 as a guest of NRA board member and past president David Keene.

NRA first vice president Pete Brownell and Russian agent Maria Butina began discussing Russian business opportunities for firearm retailer Brownells as early as January 2015. Butina pitched Brownells’ director of compliance Rob McAllister on ways to “make the company closer to the [Russian] government” to make it easier to conduct business in the country. She also helped connect one of Brownells’ subsidiary companies–Crow Shooting Supply–with Russian suppliers.

Brownell expanded his family-owned retailer of gun accessories and ammunition, Brownells, into Russia in 2015. Brownells, Inc. licensed its name to a local company in Russia to collect a percentage of its sales.

The Russian Weapons Company (RWC) applied with the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) in January 2015 for $162,000 in state, county, and local tax breaks. RWC proposed to do business through its holding, Kalashnikov USA, which would manufacture AK-47 assault rifles and other firearms in Pompano Beach, Florida. The company cited a net worth exceeding $5 million and promised to create 54 jobs with a total wage commitment of $51,266. RWC claimed it was not the subject of any pending criminal investigation “or governmental enforcement action.” The company admitted it would assemble, test-fire, and ship 95 percent of its firearms from Kalashnikov Concern (KC) in Russia — indicating a breach of the July 2014 sanctions enacted against KC by the United States. DEO designated RWC’s public application “Project 762” to keep the company’s name secret.

More than two years after the fact, Alexander Torshin was still bragging about being allowed to observe the polls during the 2012 U.S. election (courtesy of Nashville lawyer G. Kline Preston, behind him in the red tie).

On January 20, 2015, United Russia Senator Torshin tweeted, “I was there at [American President Barack] Obama’s last election! The NRA card, to me as an observer from Russia, opened access to any [polling] station.” Torshin was making reference to his November 2012 poll-watching activities in Nashville, Tennessee with conservative lawyer G. Kline Preston and a Russian diplomat.

United Russia Senator Alexander Torshin left the Russian parliament on January 21, 2015 and was appointed State Secretary, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Russia. He selected spy Maria Butina as his “special assistant” in this new position. At this point, Torshin gained financial ties to the small arms manufacturer Kalashnikov Concern. As described by Sam Thielman at Talking Points Memo:

Torshin serves as deputy governor of the Central Bank of Russia, which is Russia’s version of the U.S. Federal Reserve, but also controls a major Russian consumer bank, Sberbank, which it founded. Sberbank, which also is on the U.S. sanctions list, is a major lender to Rostec, a company owned directly by the Russian Federation that buys other companies near bankruptcy on behalf of the government and tries to recuperate them. One of Rostec’s holdings is Kalashnikov [Concern].

Butina emailed NRA board member David Keene and his wife Donna to inform them of Torshin’s new position, telling them it was “the result of a ‘big game’ in which he has a very important role.” She said it would make it easier for Torshin to travel to the United States and requested he be invited to the next NRA meeting. Keene forwarded the email to senior NRA staffers Nick Perrine and Minnie Hallow asking for Torshin to be invited to the organization’s annual meeting in April “as in the past.”

In February 2015, Russian-born Center for the National Interest (CFTNI) CEO Dimitri Simes traveled to Moscow, where he met with Russian president Vladimir Putin and other Kremlin officials. Other CFTNI board members include former AIG CEO Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, NRA board member and past president David Keene, and former Nixon Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Steve Crow, the general manager for Crow Shooting Supply, reached out to Russian agent Maria Butina in February 2015 regarding her “contacts for Russian made ammo.” Crows is a subsidiary of the firearm retailer Brownells, run by NRA executive Pete Brownell.

Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on February 27, 2015, NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre hypocritically attacked the foreign policy of the Obama administration, warning attendees, “You feel it. The threats are all around us. Russia’s advancing.” He made no mention of the NRA’s longstanding relationship with the deputy governor of the Russian central bank, Alexander Torshin, and his “assistant” Maria Butina.

Center for the National Interest (CFTNI) executive director Paul Saunders reached out to the Federal Reserve in March 2015 to set up meetings for the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank, Alexander Torshin. “I am writing to request an appointment for Mr. Alexander Torshin,” he wrote. “Mr. Torshin is in the United States on a private visit … He would like to discuss U.S.-Russia relations and international economic issues and can also share his perspective on Russia’s financial situation and its impact on Russian politics.”

NRA life member/GOP operative Paul Erickson emailed NRA Ring of Freedom manager Chris DeWitt on March 17, 2015 with a series of questions, including “Is there a list of U.S. Governors or Members of Congress that might be present at some time during the [upcoming NRA] Annual Meeting [in Nashville]?”

On March 20, 2015, Russian agent Maria Butina emailed special assistant to the NRA president Nick Perrine requesting information about the upcoming NRA annual meeting in Nashville:

[Russian Central Bank deputy governor Alexander] Torshin asks me about the officials on (sic) the event. Is there a list of U.S. Governors or Members of Congress that might be present at some time during the Annual Meeting?

Perrine responded the same day with the requested information, identifying a series of Republican politicians who planned to attend the organization’s NRA-ILA Leadership Forum. This group included Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Rick Perry, Scott Walker, Bobby Jindal, and Rick Santorum.

On March 22, 2015, Russian agent Maria Butina announced on Facebook that she would be attending the NRA’s upcoming annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee.

Russian agent Maria Butina emailed GOP operative/NRA Life Member Paul Erickson (AKA “U.S. Person 1”) on March 24, 2015 under the subject line “The Second Pozner.” She proposed a “Diplomacy Project” that involved establishing back-channel lines of communication to Republican presidential hopefuls in the United States. Butina wrote the GOP “would likely obtain control over the U.S. government after the 2016 elections,” but she worried the party “was traditionally associated with negative and aggressive foreign policy, particularly with regards to Russia.” “However, now with the right to negotiate seems best to build [constructive] relations,” she continued. Butina bragged about the relationships she and Russian central bank deputy governor Alexander Torshin had cultivated inside the NRA, noting the lobby has significant influence inside the Republican Party as “the largest sponsor of the elections to the U.S. Congress, as well as a sponsor to the CPAC conference and other events.” Butina asked Erickson for a budget of $125,000 to participate in “all upcoming major conferences” of the GOP. She concluded the proposal by warning, “The resulting status needs to be strengthened is in the current time interval, before the presidential election in 2016.”

In late March 2015, GOP operative/NRA life member Paul Erickson responded to Russian agent Maria Butina in two emails. In the first email, Erickson wrote:

Dear Maria, Your challenge in your “special project” will be to balance two opposing imperatives: Your desire to communicate that you speak for Russian interests that will be ascendant (still around) in a post-Putin world while simultaneously doing nothing to criticize the President or speed the arrival of his successor. This restriction is easily understood in private meetings with political and business leaders. It will SEVERELY limit your interactions with media. Most of the potential “guest appearances” will only be possible if you’re willing to be candid (honest) than is politically prudent for you. But ALL of the media personalities listed would be interested in meeting you “off-the-record” — though your patrons and sponsors may not fully understand the power of such meetings if you do not appear on television, radio, or print as you do in Russia. ### There is NO limit as to how many American companies that you can meet — at the highest levels — if you are able to represent that you are a potential line of communication into future Russian Federation governments.

The email listed “media, business and political contacts” and concluded with “Everyone on this list understands (to some degree) U.S./Russian relations under President [Barack] Obama and President [Vladimir] Putin. Everyone on this list would like to better understand U.S./Russian relations under new presidents for each country. YOU can provide commentary on both — if you’re willing to take that risk.”

The second email from Paul Erickson to Maria Butina had the subject line “Your Plan Forward.” It stated:

If you were to sit down with your special friends and make a list of ALL the most important contacts you could find in America for a time when the political situation between the U.S. and Russia will change, you could NOT do better than the list that I just emailed you. NO one — certainly not the “official” Russian Federation public relations representative in New York — could build a better list. And for variety of current political reasons, the current Russian Ambassadors to the United States and United Nations do not even try. YOU HAVE ALREADY MET ALL OF THE AMERICANS necessary to introduce you to EVERYONE on that list. If you had NOT spent the last year attending conferences in America, it would take you ANOTHER year to be able to meet the names on that list. What you have done is prepared all of the groundwork (necessary introductions) in order to be introduced to everyone on that list. All that is needed is for your friends to provide you with the financial resources to spend time in America to TAKE ALL OF THESE MEETINGS. I and your friends in America can’t make it any easier than that. Your potential sponsors either understand this or they don’t. The names of all of the people that impress your friends by listing them. All your friends need to know is that meetings with the names on MY list would not be possible with the unknown names in your “business card” notebook. Keep them focused on who you are NOW able to meet, NOT the people you have ALREADY met.

Butina sent her budget proposal for $125,000 in travel expenses inside the United States to Russian oligarch Konstantin Y. Nikolayev, a transport magnate whose wife runs the Russian gun company ORSIS.

Erickson also sent a dozen wires to Butina’s Alfa Bank account in Russia totaling $27,000, and an additional $30,000 to a U.S. account she held.

NRA first vice president and gun manufacturer Pete Brownell emailed Russian agent Maria Butina on March 25, 2015 after seeing her at the NRA’s 2015 Winter Board meeting. After Butina indicated she would be attending the NRA’s 2015 annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, Brownell responded:

Maria, it will be good to catch up Nashville (sic). I hope we do have time for a dinner or drinks. I believe there’s many things of changed in the rules and regulations business between our two countries to be nice to better understand where we can help each other.

In April 2015, the Russian Weapons Company (RWC) filed additional documents as part of its January 2015 incentives application with the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO). These documents confirmed that RWC’s proposed holding in Pompano Beach, Kalashnikov USA, would be using parts imported from Kalashnikov Concern in Russia in violation of U.S. sanctions enacted in July 2014.

Former NRA president David Keene introduced Wisconsin Governor and presidential candidate Scott Walker to Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin in Nashville in April 2015.

In April 2015, Russian agent Maria Butina was given a private tour of the NRA’s headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia.

The deputy governor of the Russian central bank, Alexander Torshin, and his assistant, Russian spy Maria Butina, attended a private discussion of Russia’s financial situation at the Center for the National Interest (CFTNI) in April 2015. American businessmen Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, former AIG CEO and CFTNI’s largest donor, was present. During the meeting, Butina “braced” Greenberg and asked that his investment company (Starr Russia Investments III) put more money into the Russian bank Investtorgbank, which was being audited by the country’s central bank. CFTNI CEO Dimitri Simes “told her to drop it.”

On April 7, 2015, the deputy governor of the central bank of Russia, Alexander Torshin, and his “assistant” Maria Butina met privately and separately with two senior officials from the U.S. Department of Treasury to discuss U.S.-Russia economic relations. The two officials were Stanley Fischer, vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, and Nathan Sheets, Treasury undersecretary for international affairs. Center for the National Interest (CFTNI) board member and donor Maurice “Hank” Greenberg was also present at the meetings, which were arranged by CFTNI CEO Dimitri Simes.

Fischer said his conversation with Butina and Torshin was about “the state of the Russian economy.” He added, “I recall Mr. Torshin mentioning, as an aside, that he planned to attend a meeting of the National Rifle Association, a fact that I considered irrelevant to our conversation.” An internal Treasury memo summarizing the meeting stated, “Butina…served as translator during the meeting. She is Founding Chairman and Board Member of a Russian organization which promotes the right to bear arms. They are both life members of the National Rifle Association. They are in the United States to attend the NRA’s annual meeting [in Nashville, Tennessee].”

Deputy governor of the Russian central bank Alexander Torshin also met with Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX-14th) during his trip to Washington, D.C.

From April 10–12, 2015, deputy governor of the Russian central bank Alexander Torshin and his “assistant” Maria Butina attended the NRA’s annual meeting in Nashville,Tennessee with hometown lawyer G. Kline Preston. There, Torshin encountered New York businessman Donald Trump and the two had a “jovial exchange.” According to Torshin, Trump told him, “So, you’re from Russia. When are you going to invade Latvia?” Trump — a presumptive Republican presidential candidate in 2016 — spoke at the “Leadership Forum” conducted by the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA).

Torshin and Butina were also introduced to another likely Republican presidential candidate: Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (also a speaker at the NRA-ILA leadership forum). The introduction was made by NRA board member/former NRA president David Keene at a Nashville fundraiser for Walker hosted by the 527 organization Our American Revival.

Butina and Torshin were invited to attend the NRA’s International Affairs Subcommittee meeting, Legislative Policy Committee meeting, NRA-Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) Leadership Forum, NRA-ILA Dinner and Auction, and multiple “Ring of Freedom” events for NRA donors. They were also invited to speak at the NRA’s Charlton Heston Recognition Dinner, in which the organization recognizes those who provide gifts of “real estate, firearms, bequests, life insurance, charitable gift annuities and beneficiary designations.” David Keene expensed $1,000 for two tickets to the NRA-ILA Dinner and Auction for Butina and Torshin with the NRA.

TulAmmo USA, which distributes ammunition manufactured at the Tula Cartridge Works in Russia, was allowed to exhibit at the meeting (for the fifth year in a row) despite sanctions enacted by the United States against the Russian state defense conglomerate Rostec in September 2014. Rostec owns part of Tula Cartridge Works. TulAmmo USA, TulAmmo, and Tula Cartridge Works all share the same name, address, logo and at least one former officer.

Gun manufacturer Pete Brownell was elected first vice president of the NRA during the 2015 annual meeting.

On April 14, 2015, the 527 organization Our American Revival obtained a donation of $250,000 from Len Blavatnik, a U.S. citizen who co-owns businesses in Russia with two oligarchs, Oleg Deripaska and Viktor Vekselberg, close to president Vladimir Putin. This made Blavatnik and his subsidiary Access industries the second-largest donor to the tax-exempt 527. Blavatnik also gave $1.1 million to Walker’s Unintimidated Super PAC.

Russian spy Maria Butina gave a talk about gun rights at the University of South Dakota in GOP operative/NRA Life Member Paul Erickson’s hometown of Vermillion on April 16, 2015. She claimed her group The Right to Bear Arms had more than 10,000 members and 76 offices across Russia and justified the need for more permissive gun laws using “two arguments often advanced by Russian officials: that Western sanctions had weakened Russia’s economy, causing more crime, and that the Ukrainian war posed a threat.” Butina also told students that South Dakota reminded her of Siberia, praised U.S. gun laws, and and concluded with a verse from the Bible. A spokesperson from the University of South Dakota said Butina was invited “as an international guest lecturer upon the recommendation of Paul Erickson,” who is listed as a “Life Executive Member” of the W.O. Farber Center for Civic Leadership, a USD program.

On April 24, 2015, Russian agent Maria Butina blogged about meeting Republican governor Scott Walker earlier in the month. She claimed Walker had greeted her in Russian. “We talked about Russia,” she wrote. “I did not hear any aggression towards our country, the president or my compatriots.”

Donna Wiesner, the wife of NRA board member and past president David Keene, emailed Russian agent Maria Butina on April 27, 2015 offering to have the NRA pay for her to attend an upcoming meeting of the Council for National Policy, an umbrella organization and networking group for social conservative activists in the United States, at which several GOP presidential candidates would be present:

Glad you can go to CNP! NRA will pay your registration but not your hotel or car. There is a shuttle from Dulles Airport so you wouldn’t need any car if you stay walking distance at a hotel. You are welcome to stay with us, but David is only at CNP after 12 Friday and Saturday morning until lunch, so you would need a car to stay with us.

Russian agent Maria Butina spoke on the phone with the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak, in May 2015. In her notes from the meeting, Butina said she would “send the name of the advisor [to Republican presidential candidate and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker] who can come to Moscow.”

In May 2015, the Pompano Beach Commission approved local tax incentives for the Russian Weapons Company (RWC) to open a Kalashnikov USA plant in the community. Records indicate the commission acted at the behest of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, a public/private partnership that promotes economic development in the area. The codename developed by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) for RWC’s tax incentives package, “Project 762,” was used to hide the identity of the company from local officials. Members of the Pompano Beach Commission only knew they were dealing with some type of gun company.

Russia agent Maria Butina shared an article by pro-gun activist Bob Owens on Twitter on May 3, 2015. Owen’s article appeared on the website Bearing Arms and was titled “Hillary Equates Gun Owners With Terrorists, Says They Are ‘Prone to Violence.’”

Yevgeny Lukyanov, the deputy head of Russia’s security council, announced the sale of S-300 air defense missile systems to Iran on May 26, 2015, sparking concern in Israel and the United States.

On June 7, 2015, Russian spy Maria Butina emailed Center for The National Interest CEO Dimitri Simes about his efforts to schedule meetings in Moscow with Kremlin officials for CFTNI’s top donor, Maurice “Hank” Greenberg. “You and I spoke about how Mr. Greenberg plans to travel to Moscow at the end of June,” Butina wrote in Russian. “[Russian central bank deputy governor] Alexander [Torshin] expressed a desire to meet with Greenberg in Moscow, and also to lend assistance in organizing meetings in the Russian capital, if you need our help.”

CFTNI CEO Dimitri Simes replied to Russian agent Maria Butina’s email on June 8, 2015. “It is always nice to hear from you,” Simes wrote. “Please of course also pass my best wishes to [United Russia Senator] Alexander Torshin. We really appreciate his willingness to help with the Hank Greenberg visit to Moscow.” He added that he attempted to set up a meeting for Greenberg with Elvira Nabiullina, the head of the Russian central bank “some time ago,” but scheduling conflicts kept it from taking place. Simes told Butina that once Greenberg’s schedule was clear, he would reach out to Nabiullina’s chief of staff to try again. “However, of course, any help Mr. Torshin can offer would be most welcome.” Simes mentioned that when Greenberg travels to Russia, he identifies himself as “an investor in the Russian economy,” with a controlling share in a Moscow office building and a major investment in Investtorgbank (which was insolvent by the end of 2014).

Simes also told Butina he would connect her with Jacob Heilbrunn, the editor-in-chief of CFTNI’s magazine, The National Interest. “I will mention to him that he may get a piece from you,” Simes wrote.

On June 10, 2015, Russian spy Maria Butina wrote back to Center for the National Interest CEO Dimitri Simes. “A big thank you for the response and information,” she wrote. “I passed everything on to [deputy governor of the Russian central bank] Alexander Porfiryevich [Torshin]. As soon as we know the exact dates of your arrival, we will absolutely help with your visit and the organization of meetings.” Butina was referencing logistics concerning a meeting that CFTNI donor Maurice “Hank” Greenberg wanted to take with Russian central bank chief Elvira Nabiullina in Moscow.

Marcus Owens, an attorney at Loeb & Loeb who formerly worked in the IRS’s Exempt Organizations Division, commented on the relationship between Greenberg and the CFTNI, saying “an unusual degree of attention” was “being paid to a donor who apparently [had] a business issue. The fact that it appears that the head of the charity [CFTNI CEO Dimitri Simes] was willing to travel to Russia to help resolve [the issue], that would be truly extraordinary.”

Russian agent Maria Butina also emailed Jacob Heilbrunn, editor-in-chief of The National Interest, on June 10, 2015. Butina told Heilbrunn she met Center for the National Interest CEO Dimitri Simes at the organization’s Washington, D.C. offices recently. Butina also provided Heilbrunn a draft of an op-ed she wrote titled, “The Bear and the Elephant.”

“Many thanks for your audacious essay,” Heilbrunn wrote back to Butina. “I will be delighted to publish it and will edit it tomorrow. We will send you a final copy for your approval but I don’t anticipate any big changes.”

Butina forwarded Heilbrunn’s reply to GOP operative/NRA life member Paul Erickson, her lover. “‘Audacious’!!!” Erickson wrote back. “You’re on your way to becoming a notable on-line columnist!!! If Dimitri Simes’ editors are happy, DIMITRI is happy — well done, my brilliant Siberian princess!!!”

On June 10, 2015, NRA board member David Keene emailed NRA president Allan Cors to suggest he invite Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak as his guest to the Grand National Waterfowl Hunt. The event is hosted annually by the Grand National Waterfowl Association. Keene explained the event was something “ordinarily, the [NRA] president gets an invitation to participate” in. Cors responded, “Dave: I was at the hunt many years ago. A great event. I concur with all of your ideas/suggestions and would welcome any opportunity engage the ambassador with the NRA.”

The bi-monthly international affairs magazine The National Interest, owned by the pro-Russia Center for The National Interest (CFTNI), published a piece by Russian spy Maria Butina on June 12, 2015 in which she questioned the value of U.S. sanctions against Russia for its illegal invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea. “It may take the election of a Republican to the White House in 2016 to improve relations between the Russian Federation and the United States,” Butina wrote. “Many Russians have taken note…that the American Republican Party derives much of its support from social conservatives, businessmen and those that support an aggressive approach to the war against Islamic terrorism. These are values espoused by United Russia, the current ruling political party in Moscow. At the very least, it would appear that modern Russia has more to talk about with American Republicans than American Democrats.”

During a rally at Trump Tower in Manhattan on June 16, 2015, businessman Donald Trump announced he would seek the Republican nomination for president of the United States in the upcoming 2016 election.

On approximately, June 19, 2015, Russian agent Maria Butina emailed Center for the National Interest CEO Dimitri Simes and the publisher of the organization’s magazine, Jacob Heilbrunn. “Thank you very much for publishing my article [“The Bear and the Elephant” on June 12, 2015],” she wrote. “It was translated by RT into Russian and really exploded Russian media. Now there are some political scientists that told that they agree with me. It makes me happy because before no one believed and at least talked that Russian-American relationships could be restored thanks to the future republican president.” Butina then suggested she write another piece for The National Interest about Russian oil projects.

“Dear Maria, I am pleased to hear that your piece had a real impact in Russia,” Simes replied. “I know Jacob was quite pleased to publish it. He is planning to be in touch with you regarding other possibilities. Please convey my regards to [the deputy governor of the Russian central bank] Alexandr Torshin. We are always glad to see him in Washington.” Heilbrunn sent his own reply to Butina, asking if she would write a piece for The National Interest about her efforts to liberalize gun laws in Russia. Butina never crafted such a piece for Heilbrunn.

At the urging of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, the Broward County Commission unanimously approved a resolution on June 23, 2015 promising Russian Weapons Company (RWC) a package of local tax incentives to manufacture AK-47 rifles in Pompano Beach under its holding, Kalashnikov USA. The project was given a code name to hide the identity of RWC from the commission. “Project 762 will continue to provide firearms products to meet growing market demand,” said the county staff’s approval recommendation. “Project 762’s business model aligns with the Board of County Commissioner’s vision: Unlimited Economic Opportunities.”

On June 30, 2015, Russian Weapons Company (RWC) told CNN Money, fraudulently, that its subsidiary Kalashnikov USA was already manufacturing semiautomatic AK-47 assault rifles at a factory in Florida. It did not name the location of the factory. In truth, RWC had yet to relocate its operations from Tullytown, Pennsylvania to Pompano Beach.

Russian agent Maria Butina communicated with central bank deputy governor Alexander Torshin via a series of direct messages on Twitter during the “latter half of 2015.” The two discussed the following topics:

Butina asked Torshin if he had received approval from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to attend the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. Butina provided Torshin with “biographies of U.S. politicians and [NRA] executives” for the trip. Butina referenced an NRA delegation’s upcoming trip to Moscow, stating, “Maybe, by inviting the NRA here, you have prevented a conflict between two great nations. Although, I think, this is the very beginning of the journey.” Butina talked about Torshin’s plans to meet with Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher during a congressional delegation trip to Moscow in August 2015.

In a bizarre spectacle, Russian spy Maria Butina posed as a reporter at the July 2015 FreedomFest to ask presidential candidate Donald Trump if he would continue the U.S. policy of sanctions against Russia.

In early July 2015, GOP operative/NRA life member Paul Erickson contacted Sam Nunberg, one of the few Trump campaign officials hired at that time. Erickson told him about Maria Butina, who he described as “Russian [and] involved with the NRA.” Erickson asked Nunberg if he would introduce Butina to 2016 presidential candidate Donald Trump at the upcoming libertarian FreedomFest in Las Vegas, Nevada. Butina was also hoping to take a photo with Trump. “I explained to [Erickson] that I don’t have the schedule but that I don’t think [Trump] has time for that,” Nunberg told Politico.

On July 11, 2015, Russian spy Maria Butina attended FreedomFest, a gathering of libertarians in Las Vegas, Nevada where Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) were speaking. During a Q&A, Butina introduced herself as a reporter and asked Trump a question. “I’m from Russia. My question will be about foreign politics,” Butina told him. “If you will be elected as president, what will be your foreign politics, especially in the relationships with my country? Do you want to continue the policy of sanctions that are damaging both economies? Or [do you] have any other ideas?” Trump replied, “I know [Russian president Vladimir] Putin, and I’ll tell you what, we’ll get along with Putin. I would get along very nicely with Putin, I mean, where we have the strength. I don’t think you’d need the sanctions. I think we would get along very, very well.”

“Much later,” Trump campaign adviser Stephen Bannon raised the issue of Butina’s question for Trump with Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus. “How was it that this Russian woman happened to be in Las Vegas for that event?” Bannon asked Priebus. “And how was it that Trump happened to call on her?” It was also “odd” that Trump had a “fully-developed answer” in responding, Bannon thought. Priebus agreed “there was something strange about Butina.” “Whenever there were events held by conservative groups, she ways always around,” he told Bannon.

Butina also met with Saul Anuzis and Patrick Byrne at FreedomFest. Anuzis is a former Michigan GOP chair who was appointed by the NRA board of directors to serve on the organization’s public affairs committee in 2012. Anuzis also helped Republican mega-donor Robert Mercer set up a super PAC in 2014 and was working with the billionaire to assist Republican Senator Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Patrick Byrne is the founder and chief executive of Overstock.com, a publicly traded e-commerce retailer that sells discount furniture and bedding. Byrne and Butina discussed “Milton Friedman, Anton Chekhov and John Locke” at FreedomFest and began a three-year romantic relationship. During their time together, Butina “spoke increasingly about meeting or seeking to meet people involved in the [2016] presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton, [Donald] Trump, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida.”

NRA life member/GOP operative Paul Erickson spoke to the Washington Times for an article dated July 12, 2015 that discussed Donald Trump’s appearance at FreedomFest in Las Vegas, Nevada a day earlier. “Houston, we have a [presidential candidate Ross] Perot ’92 on steroids,” he told the paper, praising Trump as a political maverick. “People have a deep apprehension about unfettered immigration. No one has ever found a way to discuss criminality associated with some illegal immigrants without impugning the character of all immigrants, legal and illegal.” Erickson suggested to the Times that Trump could be the first politician to accomplish that feat. The opinion editor of the Washington Times at this time was NRA board member (and former NRA president) David Keene.

On July 13, 2015, Russian spy Maria Butina attended Republican Scott Walker’s presidential campaign launch event in Waukesha, Wisconsin. There she had another “short personal contact” with Walker and his foreign policy adviser, Mike Gallagher.

Russian agent Maria Butina messaged the deputy governor of the central bank of Russia, Alexander Torshin, on July 14, 2015 and told him, “Judging from the American polls — our bet on [Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker] is correct.” Torshin responded, “In the [Russian Federation] no one is even looking in that direction. You will be the creator of something sensational, God willing!”

Russian agent Maria Butina was interviewed on an The Eric Mataxas Show (podcast) in Manhattan on July 15, 2015 to talk about “the current political climate.” Echoing the NRA’s rhetoric about “Good Guys with Guns,” Butina told Mataxas, “Legal guns never do crime.” She also spoke of how she came to like firearms. “My father is a hunter,” Butina said. “I was born in Siberia. For such places like Siberia or forest of Russia, this is a question of survival. Everyone has a gun.” She also claimed “there actually [are] no strict limits” on freedom of speech in Russia. GOP operative/NRA Life Member Paul Erickson was present in the studio for Butina’s interview and was introduced by Mataxas (“I forgot we were in the same class at Yale,” Mataxas told Erickson). Erickson connected Butina to deceased AK-47 inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov, saying: “Maria is very humble when she talks about this. She started The Right to Bear Arms in the Russian version of McDonald’s with friends, and her work became noticed by the highest levels of the Russian government, the Russian people, including the now late general Mikhail Kalashnikov, the inventor of the AK-47, who became aware of her organization and supported her, held his hand and extended the protection of the Hero of the Motherland to her early efforts and now [The Right to Bear Arms] which began less than four years ago has over 10,000 members in Russia, not a mean feat in a time of political uncertainty.”

A Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) memo dated July 17, 2015 commented on the January 2015 application of the Russian Weapons Company (RWC) to open a Kalashnikov USA factory in Pompano Beach, Florida. The memo made it clear DEO was aware Kalashnikov Concern, sanctioned by the United States a year earlier, was using RWC and Kalashnikov USA as shell companies. “[RWC] has the exclusive license to manufacture and distribute products designed and under the brands of Concern Kalashnikov, a Russian military, hunting and sporting firearms manufacturer founded in 1807,” stated the memo. “The Company’s products are marketed under the Kalashnikov USA brand and are produced with state-of-the-art computer numeric control design and manufacturing systems, allowing for improved fit and finish. The Company’s product line includes semi-automatic rifles and shotguns. The Company’s products are available through direct dealers nationwide.”

Maria Butina addressed a camp of Teenage Republicans in Paul Erickson’s (red shirt) home state of South Dakota in July 2015. She was a hit.

Maria Butina spoke to a South Dakota Teenage Republicans Camp in the Black Hills on July 21, 2015. NRA Life Member/GOP operative Paul Erickson was present. The event was organized by Dusty Johnson, a Republican candidate for South Dakota’s lone U.S. House seat. “Maria Butina was incredible,” he tweeted. “The kids *loved* her stories of working for freedom in Russia.”

Speaking to the Washington Times for an article about Donald Trump dated July 29, 2015, NRA Life Member/GOP operative Paul Erickson opined, “Trump’s statements about immigration are simply the ‘gateway drug’ to candid statements about everything else,” said Erickson. “I don’t believe the GOP primary will be solely defined by immigration screeds. People are desperate for candor and non-Beltway speak, period, whatever the topic. No one cares or is listening to the tut-tutting of the ‘responsible’ candidates over The Donald’s remarks. Voters in uncertain numbers are watching HBO Trump and deciding whether to take him seriously. And until they do, every other candidate is PBS.” The opinion editor of the Washington Times is NRA board member (and former NRA pres.) David Keene.

NRA board member David Keene wrote an email to Russian spy Maria Butina in August 2015 indicating that Outdoor Channel president and CEO Jim Liberatore might be joining an NRA delegation traveling to Moscow in December 2015. “He wants to do a non-political short series of shows,” Keene told Butina, “that he would tentatively call ‘Putin’s Russia’ featuring the Russian outdoors, hunting, fishing and conservation efforts such as the effort to save the Siberian Tiger.”

From August 4–6, 2015, Congressmen Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA-48th) and Gregory Meeks (D-NY-5th) were in Moscow as part of a congressional delegation from the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats. An aide to Rohrabacher, Ken Grubbs, told The Daily Beast that Rohrabacher met with the deputy governor of the Russian central bank, Alexander Torshin. “All he could recall about [Torshin assistant Maria] Butina is that she was an aide to Torshin who arranged a dinner meeting and was of no consequence other than that,” said Grubb. “His CODEL [congressional delegation] as well as his meeting with Torshin all came under the normal, fact-finding auspices of the [subcommittee].” Meeks recalled, “The main message of the Russians to the legislators was to decry [U.S. President] Barack Obama, denounce the U.S. and NATO as aggressors, and attack a piece of human-rights sanctions legislation known as the Magnitsky Act.”

Russian ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak toured the NRA’s HQ in Fairfax, Virginia on August 20, 2015 and had a private lunch with NRA president Allan Cors and board member/past president David Keene. The visit included a tour of the NRA museum led by Jim Supica.

Alexander Torshin met with Donald Trump at the 2015 NRA annual meeting in Nashville and snapped this pic of him, wife Melania, and an unidentified woman.

On August 23, 2015, the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank, Alexander Torshin, tweeted a photo he took months earlier at the NRA’s annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. In the photo are Donald Trump (who spoke at the “Leadership Forum” conducted by the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action), his wife Melania, and an unidentified woman. Torshin tagged Igor Korotchenko, a pro-Putin military scholar and member of the Russian Defense Ministry’s public advisory council, in the tweet and captioned, “D. Trump supporter of traditional family values. A Member of the NRA. Saw him in Nashville (April of this year).” [Torshin has since deleted the tweet.]

Russia’s Central Bank seized the Russian bank InvesttorgBank on August 27, 2015. The Central Bank concluded that InvesttorgBank was racked by “massive fraud” and acted to “investigate the bank’s financial health and protect its creditors.”

On August 29, 2015, conservative lawyer G. Kline Preston IV (who introduced Alexander Torshin to NRA leader David Keene) tweeted a photo of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaking at the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, writing (in Russian), “Donald Trump today in Nashville. He is a friend of Russia.”

Russian agent Maria Butina emailed NRA staff in September 2015 and indicated that the organization’s formal support was still necessary for her ability to travel to the United States, writing, “I also would be grateful for the formal invitation to the [2016 NRA annual meeting in Louisville, Kentucky]–it is very useful for the passport control officer.”

In September 2015, Russian spy Maria Butina responded to Donna Weisner, the wife of NRA board member David Keene, regarding a proposal by Outdoor Channel president and CEO Jim Liberatore to develop a new show called “Putin’s Russia” which would focus on hunting, fishing and conversation. “We think it is a good idea [for Liberatore to join an upcoming NRA delegation trip to Moscow to discuss the proposal],” Butina wrote. “Let’s plan it.”

The Oz brothers (Eldad and Moshe) moved the Russian Weapons Company (RWC) and CAA into a 40,000-square-foot facility inside the Pompano Distribution Center in Pompano Beach, Florida in September 2015, for the purpose of manufacturing assault weapons and tactical accessories. The address of the facility is 3901 NE 12th Avenue #400, Pompano Beach, FL 33064.

To describe pro-Putin Nashville lawyer G. Kline Preston as eccentric would be an understatement. Here he is in his office with a portrait of George Washington painted by a Russian behind him.

On September 25, 2015, The Right to Bear Arms posted a meme of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Facebook with the caption, “Nobody can encroach on the citizenry’s right to store and carry firearms. Period.”

In early October 2015 Russian agent Maria Butina and GOP operative/NRA life member Paul Erickson traveled to Iowa to meet with NRA first vice president and gun manufacturer Pete Brownell. This was the first time Brownell met Erickson.

In October 2015, Florida Governor Rick Scott and the state’s Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) approved the January 2015 application of the Russian Weapons Company (RWC) and made a formal offer of $162,000 in tax incentives to the company to open a Kalashnikov USA factory in Pompano Beach, Florida. The offer was made despite the Scott administration’s knowledge that Kalashnkov USA would be importing parts from Kalashnikov Concern in Russia. Kalashnikov Concern was sanctioned by the U.S. in July 2014 for its role in the illegal invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea.

Brownells’ director of compliance Rob McAllister emailed Russian agent Maria Butina about ways the company could do business in Russia in October 2015, writing:

It was wonderful to meet you today. I hope that we will be able to create new opportunities for international trade in the future. I see great potential in Russia for our industry and especially in the business model Brownells has adopted in Europe. The obstacle we currently have is to be able to pursue this model without the political risk to the Brownells brand elsewhere. Hopefully, this situation will improve, and in the mean time we will continue to look for opportunities without brand risk.

Brownells’ CEO is NRA executive and board member Pete Brownell.

Butina responded to McAllister a week later, writing:

I am sure that The Brownells has a great opportunity working in Russia. I will be in Moscow a week before The NASGW [National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers] Convention and will start some talks about your company in Russia. I already have a couple of ways for this to work perfectly. But before let me know what. Russia as I told you is a very specific country and things work much better in my country if foreign companies do not just sale in Russia but have Russian partners. Often it helps to avoid some problems and make the company closer to the government which one more strong way of protection. What do you think if we find for The Brownells a Russian partner? Are you interested in that? I am doing the same for another company (not guns) from the USA so I know what I am talking about. Let me know you thoughts about this please. I will also meet some guys who could be your Russian dealers. To make this meeting productive I need from you to answer some questions about The Brownells that I will translate and present for Russians.

Steve Crow, the general manager for Crow Shooting Supply, met Russian agent Maria Butina at the National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers (NASGW) on October 7, 2015. Crows is a subsidiary of the firearm retailer Brownells, run by NRA executive Pete Brownell.

During the second week of October 2015, GOP operative/NRA life member Paul Erickson emailed NRA first vice president and gun manufacturer Pete Brownell to thank him for giving Erickson and Russian agent Maria Butina a tour of his firearms retail company, Brownells:

Dear Weapons King / Real Estate Development Magnate / Lapsed “Hawkeye” / Future NRA President, Thank you SO much for your gracious hospitality yesterday — it was a rare privilege to be given a tour of the ‘Brownells lair’ by the President & C.E.O. himself! The impressiveness of your operation and delicious international lunch was only exceeded by your generous spirit.

Brownell responded the following day, “Without sou