Russian gets 18 months for agent work

WASHINGTON -- In a quivering voice, Maria Butina begged for leniency Friday as she awaited sentencing on charges of being a secret agent for Russia. She cast herself as an innocent caught up in a massive geopolitical power game.

But a federal judge sentenced her to 18 months in prison followed by deportation. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan sided with prosecutors, who said the 30-year-old Russian deliberately obscured her true purposes while developing backdoor contacts inside the American conservative movement to advance the interests of Russia.

The sentence can be appealed and Butina will get credit for her time in jail since her high-profile arrest in July 2018. The case garnered intense media coverage amid speculation over the extent of Russian interference in American politics.

Butina admitted last year to covertly gathering intelligence on the National Rifle Association and other groups at the direction of a former Russian lawmaker. Her guilty plea to a single charge of conspiracy to act as an unregistered foreign agent came as part of a deal with prosecutors.

At Friday's sentencing hearing, Butina appealed to Chutkan to release her with nine months of time served.

"My reputation is ruined, both here in the United States and abroad," she said, asking for "a chance to go home and restart my life."

Chutkan, however, fully followed the government's recommendation and sentenced Butina to an additional nine months, before being deported.

The judge said the sentence was meant "to reflect the seriousness of (Butina's actions) and to promote deterrence."

Butina's lawyers decried the judgment as overly harsh; they had characterized Butina as a naive but ambitious international affairs student who didn't realize her actions required her to register as an agent of a foreign government.

The Russian Embassy in Washington said in a Facebook post Butina "is a political prisoner, a victim of provocations by special services and the arbitrary use of repressive U.S. legislation. We insist on the innocence of our compatriot. We demand her immediate release."

Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the lower house of the Russian parliament, said the case was "political and fabricated from air poisoned with Russophobia."