Maria Butina pleaded guilty in federal court on December 13, 2018 to one count of conspiracy to act as an agent of the Russian Federation without registering with the U.S. government, while the original charge of failing to register as a foreign agent was dropped. She became the first Russian …
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The FBI arrested Maria Butina in Washington, D.C. on July 15, 2018, charging her with acting in the United States as an agent of the Russian government without prior notification to the Attorney General, and conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States. The arrest came after an 18-month …
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Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin arranged and hosted a delegation of National Rifle Association members in Moscow from December 10-15, 2015. The delegation included NRA leaders such as Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke and David Keene, a former NRA president. During the trip, the gun rights …
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Russian operative Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin (member of Russia’s upper house of parliament and later sanctioned Russian official) traveled to Nashville, Tennessee to attend the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting from April 8-11, 2015. During this trip, Torshin met with …
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In 2011, Maria Butina founded the Russian gun rights organization “Right to Bear Arms” as a front operation and was hired as “special assistant” to Alexander Torshin, a Russian Senator with Kremlin connections. Together they initiated a systematic multi-year intelligence …
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