Russian president Vladimir Putin is responding to news that accused Russian agent Maria Butina will be pleading guilty and cooperating with the U.S. government by pretending he does not know her.
... Putin on Tuesday said it was unclear to him why Butina had been arrested in the first place, because she’s a stranger to his senior spooks.
“She risks 15 years in jail. For what?” said Putin.
“I asked all the heads of our intelligence services what is going on. Nobody knows anything about her.”
After the Department of Justice arrested Butina in July, the Russian Foreign Ministry launched a social media campaign on her behalf and still was using her photo as its Twitter image as recently as Tuesday. Butina's own email correspondence shows connections to the Kremlin and high-level Russian officials.
From Russian state media TASS:
In a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo on July 21, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov demanded that Butina be released from custody as soon as possible and called accusations against her fabricated.
The Atlantic's Natasha Bertrand sums it up well:
CNBC:
Butina's plea hearing — which was originally set for Wednesday — was rescheduled to Thursday morning.
The conspiracy in the case allegedly involved efforts to infiltrate the National Rifle Association gun rights lobbying group, whose members include Butina's boyfriend, longtime Republican operative Paul Erickson.
The Russian official allegedly involved in the conspiracy is believed to be Alexander Torshin, a former Russian senator who is close to Putin.
Documents obtained by NBC News say Butina will admit she conspired with an unidentified American to act at the direction of a Russian official "to establish unofficial lines of communication with Americans having power and influence over U.S. politics ... for the benefit of the Russian Federation."
Putin: No one knows of alleged Russian spy Maria Butina (New York Post)