Maria Butina, the only Russian arrested and convicted in the three-year investigation of Moscow's interference in US politics, was sentenced on Friday to 18 months in prison. The leader of a small Russian gun rights group, the 30-year-old Siberian native used her ties to the National Rifle Association firearms lobby to build a network of powerful Republican contacts.
She had pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government without registering - a so-called "espionage-lite" charge the Justice Department has used before against alleged Russian spies. Prosecutors said that although she worked openly and was not tied to any Russian intelligence agency, she was sending back reports to a high-level Russian government officials and posed a threat to the United States.
"I humbly request forgiveness. I'm not this evil person depicted in the media," she told the court in Washington before her sentence was announced. Dressed in a dark blue pajama-like prison uniform, her long red hair pulled behind her shoulders, the young woman's voice broke as she addressed the court in fluent, Russian-accented English. She said that she had only wanted to work towards better US-Russian relations.
"I wanted a future here in international policy," she said. "If I had known to register as a foreign agent I would have done so." Butina was given the full prison term requested by prosecutors, though she was given credit for having already spent nine months in jail. She will be deported after she completes her sentence.
Butina's case played out in the context of strains between Moscow and Washington over what US intelligence says was a concerted effort by Russian spy agencies to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, using hacking and social media manipulation to help President Donald Trump to victory.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller charged 25 Russians with conspiracy for those activities, but, with all of them believed to be in Russia, none have been arrested.