Maria Butina's father, in a message sent through a Kremlin aide even though Vladimir Putin insists no one in the Russian government knows who she is, says his daughter is not going to incriminate herself or anyone else when she formally pleads guilty in court Thursday.
Butina reportedly signed a plea agreement Saturday admitting guilt and agreeing to cooperate.
“There’s nothing new. All the facts have been well known for a long time,” Valery Butin confirmed in a message relayed by a Kremlin aide. Butina said Monday she would change her plea from not guilty.
“I think that the mere fact of the plea deal is not something unusual. The main thing is the deal’s substance,” an earlier message from Butin relayed by the aide read. “And the substance is that Maria is not willing to incriminate herself or anybody else. She is not planning to admit to crimes she didn’t commit.” She wasn’t offered and didn’t ask for U.S. citizenship as part of the deal, Butin wrote.
The messages were relayed by Ivan Makushok, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s adviser Sergei Glazyev.
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Butina’s father said she’s received nothing but “moral support provided in the form of diplomatic notes, protests, etc.” from Russia’s Foreign Ministry. He has applied for a grant from a government fund to help cover expenses but it hasn’t been approved yet and will likely be “small,” he said. The first message said the funding of her legal defense as in a “critical” state.
“No one is providing financial assistance,” he said.
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A supporter of Butina in Russia, Alexander Ionov, said that he saw the plea deal and that she had “no choice” but to agree to it. Ionov, deputy head of a Russian human rights group, said he expects Butina to return to Russia next year.
Butina Won’t Implicate Anyone, Can't Afford Defense, Father Says (Bloomberg Politics)