INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
According to the complaint against her, she worked with two unnamed US citizens and a Russian officialWASHINGTON: A 29-year-old Russian
woman living in Washington has been arrested and charged with conspiracy to act as an agent of the Russian government while developing ties
with American citizens and infiltrating political groups, the US Justice Department said on Monday.Maria Butina, a student at American
University and a founder of the pro-gun rights Russian advocacy organization Right to Bear Arms, is accused of working at the direction of a
high-level official who worked for the Russian Central Bank and was recently sanctioned by the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets
Control, the Justice Department said in a statement.The court records do not name the official.However, she is pictured in numerous
photographs on her Facebook page with Alexander Torshin, the deputy head of Russia's Central Bank, and a person familiar with the matter
confirmed to Reuters that she worked for him.Torshin was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in April.Butina was arrested on Sunday and
was ordered held pending a hearing set for Wednesday, it said.According to the complaint against her, she worked with two unnamed US
citizens and the Russian official to try and influence American politics and infiltrate a pro-gun rights organization.The complaint does not
name the group; however, photos on her Facebook page show she has attended events sponsored by the National Rifle Association.She arranged
dinners in Washington and New York City and tried to develop relationships with American politicians in order to establish "back channel"
lines of communication to "penetrate the US national decision-making apparatus to advance the agenda of the Russian Federation," the
complaint said.© Thomson Reuters 2018(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is
published from a syndicated feed.)
