UPDATE: The State Department's official readout of Saturday's Lavrov-Pompeo call makes no mention of Maria Butina.
The US version of what the top American and Russian diplomats discussed in their most recent telephone call made no mention of the Russian woman arrested by American authorities and suspected of being a covert Kremlin agent – even though Moscow says her case came up in the conversation.
The state department’s description on Sunday of the call between the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, and the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, mentioned “a broad range of issues”, including Syria, counter-terrorism, dialogue between US and Russian businesses and “diplomatic access”.
But Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday that Lavrov complained in the call about the arrest of Maria Butina on “fabricated charges” and spoke about “the need for her early release”.
Accused spy Maria Butina not mentioned in US readout of Russia call (The Guardian)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Saturday and told him to release suspected Russian agent Maria Butina.
Once again, news of the call came from the Russian government and not the Trump administration.
Butina has been accused of working with a high-powered Russian official and two unidentified U.S. citizens, trying to infiltrate a pro-gun rights organization in the United States and influence the United States’ foreign policy toward Russia.
Lavrov said the actions of the American authorities, who arrested Butina “on the basis of fabricated charges”, were unacceptable and called for her release as soon as possible.
Lavrov and Pompeo also discussed ways to improve bilateral relations on “equal and mutually beneficial grounds” after the leaders of the two countries, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, met in Helsinki on Monday.
They also talked over possible joint efforts aimed at improving the humanitarian situation in Syria as well as the “challenges” of Korean peninsula de-nuclearization.
Lavrov tells Pompeo: free Russian woman accused in U.S. of espionage (Reuters)