UPDATE: Accused Agent's Rise in US Political Circles

UPDATED:

A Russian woman charged this week with serving as a foreign agent has been in regular contact with Russian intelligence, the Justice Department says, and she attempted to offer sex in exchange for a position with an organization she targeted.

Prosecutors included that information in court documents as part of their request that Maria Butina be detained ahead of her trial because they say she is a "serious" flight risk.

The government's attorneys cited "the nature of the charges, her history of deceptive conduct, the potential sentence she faces, the strong evidence of guilty, extensive foreign connections and her lack of any meaningful ties to the United States."

They also said that Butina, who was indicted on Tuesday by a grand jury in Washington, D.C., has "access to funds and an intention to move money outside the United States."

Moreover, they wrote, her lease is up at the end of July and she had boxes packed, apparently with the intention to move.

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One apparent reason for the government's concern was the discovery that Butina has been in contact with Russia's FSB intelligence agency "throughout her entire time" in the United States, according to court papers.

FBI surveillance also spotted her with a Russian diplomat whom American officials believe was an intelligence officer. Intelligence officers often use an "official cover" as employees of their home country's foreign ministry.

FBI agents discovered March 2017 messages between Butina and Alexander Torshin, the Russian government official whom they've described as her main point of contact in Russia, in which he allegedly wrote: "You have upstaged Anna Chapman. She poses with toy pistols while you are being published with real ones."

Chapman belonged to the network of so-called "illegal" intelligence operatives rolled up by the FBI in 2010 and went on to enjoy a high media profile for some time afterward.

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Authorities added that she has ties to wealthy businessmen in the Russian oligarchy.

Finally, the FBI said it has determined that even though she had a personal relationship with Person 1, identified by NPR as political fundraiser Paul Erickson, she "offered an individual other than Person 1 sex in exchange for a position with a special interest organization. Further, in papers seized by the FBI, Butina complained about living with Person 1."

Washington Post:

For nearly five years, the young Russian political-science student was an unusual fixture at the most important events of the U.S. conservative movement.

Maria Butina, who was indicted this week on charges of being a covert Russian agent, struck up friendships with the influential leaders of the National Rifle Association and the Conservative Political Action Conference, touting her interest in U.S. affairs and efforts to promote gun rights in Vladimir Putin’s restrictive Russia. She sidled up to GOP presidential candidates, seeking first an encounter with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and then, after his rising candidacy stumbled, with Donald Trump.

But by August 2016, when she moved to the United States on a student visa, the FBI was watching, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

Rather than question or confront her, they said, officials decided to track her movements to determine whom she was meeting and what she was doing in the United States — the kind of monitoring that is not uncommon when foreign nationals are suspected of working on behalf of a foreign government.

By then, Butina had already publicly quizzed Trump about his views on Russia and briefly met his eldest son at an NRA convention. After the FBI began monitoring her, Butina attended a ball at Trump’s inauguration and tried to arrange a meeting between him and a senior Russian government official at last year’s annual National Prayer Breakfast.

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The 29-year-old was indicted by a grand jury on Tuesday, accused of conspiracy and failing to register as a foreign agent. The indictment alleges that she worked with her contact in the Russian government to infiltrate American political groups as part of a scheme “to advance the interests of the Russian Federation.”

Robert Driscoll, an attorney for Butina, said she is not a Russian agent but merely a student with an interest in politics and a desire to network with Americans. “She intends to defend her rights vigorously and looks forward to clearing her name,” he said in a statement.

U.S. officials allege that her activities show the breadth and sophistication of Russia’s influence operations in the United States. At the same time prosecutors say 12 Russian intelligence officers in Moscow sought to affect the 2016 presidential campaign by hacking and releasing stolen documents from Democrats, Butina was roaming the country, building ties on the Kremlin’s behalf with powerful conservative figures, according to court filings.

“The filing of this latest complaint is just further evidence of how far-reaching and carefully planned Russia’s assault on American democracy has been,” said a former U.S. official with knowledge of the Russia investigation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing probe. “To anyone who doubts that the Russian counterintelligence threat is real, this complaint should be further proof that it’s a threat that is live, real and urgent for the country to grapple with.”

Butina’s activities raise questions about why the NRA and other groups gave her high-level access, allowing her to meet important politicians and influential thought leaders.