1/12 SLIDES © Alexandria Detention Center via AP

Mariia Butina, the Russian national who has been accused of spying in the United States, haspleaded guilty for conspiracy to act as an illegal foreign agent in the United States, on Dec. 11. She has agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors.

2/12 SLIDES© Press Service of Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation/Handout via REUTERS

On Nov. 10, 1988, Mariia Butina was born in Barnaul, Altai Krai, Russia, which is in Siberia. She studied political science at Altu State University. Prior to her move into politics as a career, she had started a furniture company and also worked in public relations.

(Pictured) Public figure Mariia Butina (R) attends a meeting of a group of experts, affiliated to the government of Russia, in this undated handout photo.

3/12 SLIDES© Press Service of Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation/Handout via REUTERS

Butina founded the Right to Bear Arms, a pro-gun rights group, in Russia in 2011, while working for Aleksandr Torshin. Torshin is a close ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Together, Butina and Torshin worked to develop a relationship with the NRA in America.

(Pictured) Mariia Butina delivers a speech during a rally to demand the expanding of rights of Russian citizens, in this undated handout photo.

4/12 SLIDES© Pavel Ptitsin/AP

In this file photo taken on Sept. 7, 2012, Maria Butina walks with Alexander Torshin, then a member of the Russian upper house of parliament in Moscow, Russia.
5/12 SLIDES© Pavel Ptitsin/AP

When gun activist Butina arrived in Washington in 2014 to network with the NRA, she was peddling a Russian gun rights movement that was already dead.
6/12 SLIDES© STR/AFP/Getty Images

Butina met Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, a Republican, in 2015 at an NRA conference in Nashville. Later in the year, she attended the launch of his presidential campaign.

(Pictured) Mariia Butina, leader of a pro-gun organization, speaks on October 8, 2013, during a press conference in Moscow.

7/12 SLIDES© John Locher/AP

In 2015, Butina attended FreedomFest in Las Vegas where President Trump was scheduled to speak. At this event, Butina managed to ask Trump a question on Russian sanctions, to which he responded, “I don’t think you’d need the sanctions.”

(Pictured) Donald Trump speaks at FreedomFest, on July 11, 2015.

8/12 SLIDES© Press Service of Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation/HANDO/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Butina moved full-time to the United States in 2017 to purse a master’s degree in international relations at American University.

(Pictured) A handout photo dated Feb. 24, 2014, made available by by the Press Service of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation shows ‘The Right to Bear Weapons’ Public Organization’s Board Chairman Mariia Butina (L) attending a discussion ‘My House – My Fortress’ initiative at the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation in Moscow.

9/12 SLIDES© Jon Elswick/AP

In July 2018, the U.S. Justice Department announced her arrest on a charge of conspiracy.

(Pictured) Court papers unsealed Monday, July 16, 2018, shows part of the criminal complaint against Mariia Butina. She was arrested July 15, on a charge of conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of the Russian government.

10/12 SLIDES© AP Photo

A judge denied her bail on July 18, 2018, and Butina will be held in jail pending her trial.

(Pictured) In this photo taken on April 21, 2013, Mariia Butina speaks to a crowd during a rally in support of legalizing the possession of handguns in Moscow.

11/12 SLIDES© Dana Verkouteren via AP

This courtroom sketch depicts Mariia Butina, in orange suit, listening to her attorney Robert Driscoll, standing, as he speaks to Judge Deborah Robinson, left, during a hearing in federal court in Washington, D.C., on July 18, 2018.
12/12 SLIDES© FBI/Handout via Reuters

Accused Russian agent Mariia Butina is shown sitting at a table with a suspected Russian Intel Operative in a restaurant, according to court documents, in a FBI surveillance photo provided July 18, 2018.
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Slideshow by photo services

Prosecutors said while Butina did not engage in “traditional” spy craft, she worked behind the scenes to make inroads in conservative political circles and promote warmer U.S.-Russian relations. She arranged dinners in Washington and New York and attended events to meet prominent politicians.

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Alexander Torshin, a deputy governor of Russia’s central bank, was the Russian official mentioned in the case. Torshin was not charged.

Butina‘s case was separate from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Moscow’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election, which detailed numerous contacts between Trump’s campaign and Russia. Her activities, though, occurred during the same period as the contacts investigated by Mueller.

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‘I AM RESPONSIBLE’

Until Friday, Butina had made no major public comments since her arrest. Her remarks ran counter to the Kremlin’s account of Butina being forced by the United States to falsely confess to the “ridiculous” charge of being a Russian agent.

“I destroyed my own life,” Butina told the judge.

“While I know I am not this evil person who has been depicted in the media, I am responsible for these consequences,” Butina added.

“Now I beg for mercy, for the chance to go home and restart my life,” she said.

Her lawyers downplayed her crime as a simple failure to notify the Justice Department of her activities on Russia’s behalf.

“If I had known to register as a foreign agent, I would have done so without delay,” Butina told the judge. “I just didn’t register because I didn’t know to.”

Prosecutor Erik Kenerson told the court Butina‘s activities were more serious.

“This is not a registration offense,” Kenerson said. “This is a case where the defendant acted in the United States as an agent of the Russian government.”

Chutkan said determining Butina‘s sentence was “far more complicated” than most cases. The 18 months recommended by prosecutors were less than they could have sought, reflecting Butina‘s cooperation after her guilty plea that included her speaking to a congressional committee, the FBI and federal prosecutors.

Reuters previously reported Butina was a public Trump supporter who bragged at Washington parties she could use her political connections to help people land jobs in his administration.

One of the two Americans referenced by prosecutors was conservative political activist Paul Erickson, Butina‘s then-boyfriend. He was not charged in Butina‘s case but faces wire fraud and money laundering charges in a separate prosecution in South Dakota.

Many of Butina‘s meetings were documented on her social media pages, with photos of her at NRA conferences, a high-profile annual prayer breakfast in Washington, and with dignitaries including Republican former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, a 2016 presidential candidate.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Additional reporting by Maria Tsvetkova in Moscow; Editing by Will Dunham)

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