The Russia connectionMaria Butina's own words belie claim that charges are “trumped up”

According to Russia’s Foreign Ministry, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a 21 July phone call that Maria Butina’s arrest was an “unacceptable act” and the charges against her were “trumped-up.”

The U.S. Department of State readout of the same phone conversation does not mention Lavrov’s complaints regarding Butina.

Maria Butina was arrested in Washington, D.C. on 15 July on charges of illegally acting as an agent of the Russian government in a covert operation aimed at infiltrating the U.S. political establishment. Butina pleaded not guilty in a Federal District Court hearing on 18 July. The judge denied her bail based on the prosecutor’s argument that there was a high risk Butina would flee the U.S.[Read the Court documents].

Maria Butina’s own words
Maria Butina has created an ample footprint in the .ru domain. She has maintained multiple social media accounts, on practically every available platform. For instance, on the Russian network vKontakte, Butina has separate profiles for the Russian and English languages. She also runs an account for her NGO “Pravo na Oruzhie” [Right to Bear Arms], the website which appears underdeveloped and possibly was used as part of Butina’s public profile as a pro-gun activist.

A deep dive into Butina’s blogs, on both Livejournal.Ru and the high-end Russian magazine Snob, leaves no question as to where her loyalties lie.

However, there is one particular media appearance during which Butina spoke as a person engaged in government affairs.

On 30 June 2014, Butina gave a Skype interview to the obscure Anna-news agency program, whose host indicated he was in eastern Ukraine and represented so-called “Novorossia,” the DNR and LNR – the two secessionist regions fighting against Kyiv with Russia’s help.

Butina discussed the “urgency” of the situation in the Donbas and the need to deploy actual Russian troops