In Washington, they arrested Maria Butina: who is she and why did she fight for the right to arms in the USA

The 29-year-old native of Barnaul Butina is best known in her home country as the founder of the public organization Right to Arms, which advocates the expansion of the rights to own a short-barreled rifle in Russia. As GQ magazine wrote in 2014, Butina “watched with interest from his childhood [father], who was keen on hunting, dismantled and cleaned his gun,” and for the first time “took the gun when she was ten years old”.

In the year of 2010, Butina graduated from the Faculty of Mass Communications, Philology and Political Science at Altai State University, then she enrolled in graduate school there. While still a student, she became a member of the Public Chamber of the Altai Territory, in 21, she set up a furniture store chain in the region, and in 2011, when she was 22, she founded Right to Arms and moved to Moscow. There, Butina sold almost all the stores and opened an advertising agency, which, as GQ wrote, became its main source of income.

By 2014, “The Right to Arms”, as GQ pointed out, “has grown throughout the country, completely swallowed up all similar undertakings, gathered people from the nomenclature of large parties to nationalists and liberals, joined the US National Association and engaged in human rights and legislative activities. " For example, the organization promoted the initiative “My home is my fortress”, which intended to expand the legislative interpretation of the concept of “self-defense”. This project was one of the first to get 100 thousands of votes on the site. Russian public initiative and was approved by the expert group, but the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Justice opposed.

In the same years, judging by the publications in the American media, Butina met Paul Erickson, a US Republican lawyer and an active member of the NRA. In 2013, Right to Arms published a video message from John Bolton (then the US representative to the UN), in which he supports the right of Russians to bear arms; Bolton is now the national security adviser to the US president.

“Patron” of “Rights to Arms” was called Alexandra Torshina - at that moment he was deputy chairman of the Federation Council, and in the last three years he held a similar position in the Central Bank. Torshin has repeatedly advocated the expansion of rights to possession of short-barreled weapons and has repeatedly endorsed the initiatives of Butina. LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, director Ivan Okhlobystin and (now former) State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomarev were also mentioned among the honorary members of “Rights to Arms”.

Who is Alexander Torshin?

In 2014, Maria Butina participated in the electronic elections to the Public Chamber. Politician Alexei Navalny called her among the candidates for whom you can vote: "Butin lobbies for the right to civilian weapons, and almost the only one who leads a normal election campaign." In the OP, the activist did not hit. According to the interlocutor of “Medusa”, who worked with Butina, she adheres to “opposition views” and “took part in swamp protests” - but, being “a fan of arms ideas in Russia”, she was ready to cooperate “both with the opposition and with the party in power ".

In January, Butina resigned as Chairman of the Right to Arms 2015, and in March 2018, the organization was eliminated by a court decision for violating the law on public associations. The organization's site is not working now; “Rights to Weapon” group in VKontakte is active, it consists of 40 thousand people.

Source "Medusa" surrounded Torshin called Butin "a good employee who can solve the problem", as well as "grip" and "executive" girl who, "if necessary, will dig the ground." “If she was lucky to get into the team with Alexander Porfirievich, then he considers it useful,” added the source. - She wanted to do a lot of things on the line of weapons. The young one is on fire. ”

What did Butina do in the USA

In the year 2015, Butina entered the American University in Washington for a master's program in international relations and began to spend a lot of time in the United States. She attended many NRA events; In the documents of the Ministry of Justice it is said that a certain American helped her to get acquainted with influential politicians. The Washington Post and other media outlets indicate that Paul Ericson fits the above criteria.

The patron of Butina, Alexander Torshin, maintained close ties with the NRA and the Republicans even before the relocation of the founder of The Rights to Arms to the United States. As the Mother Jones publication wrote, the official repeatedly visited the association’s events and brought its leaders to Moscow, where he was introduced to the “Rights to Arms” activity.

After entering American University with Torshin, I began to ride Butina in America. In 2015 – 2016 - during the presidential campaign in the United States - she regularly appeared at NRA conferences and other events where she met prominent representatives of the Republican Party, for example, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, who was trying to run for president.

In June 2015 of the year, a few days before Donald Trump announced his candidacy, Butina published an article titled “Bear and Elephant” (an elephant is a symbol of the Republican Party) in a conservative edition of the National Interest. In it, she stated that in order to improve relations between the United States and Russia, the election of a Republican president is necessary (the text was noted, in particular, by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti).

A month later, Butina found herself at the same event as Trump in Las Vegas. There, she managed to ask the future president whether he was going to continue the policy of sanctions against Russia in the event of a victory. Trump replied that "Knows Putin and gets along with him" and opposes sanctions.

As described in The Daily Beast, in November 2016 - shortly after Donald Trump won the presidential election - Boutin held a costume party in Washington for her birthday party where the Trump campaign staff arrived, as well as Paul Ericson.

Erickson dressed for the party as Rasputin, and Butina as the “Empress Alexandra” (obviously, it was about the wife of Nicholas II Alexander Fedorovna, on whom Rasputin had a great influence). At the party, Butina, according to two sources, announced that she was helping representatives of Trump's staff in communication with Russia. Former teacher Butyna at American University Svetlana Savranskaya told The Daily Beast that she said this several times in the classroom.

In March, 2017, Butina and Torshin participated in a dinner with several Republicans (including congressmen), who passed February 1 and was “one of the festivities around” National Prayer Breakfast. A few months later, there were reports that Torshin also had to meet with Donald Trump as part of this trip, the deputy chairman of the Central Bank denied this information, and Butin as a “representative of the delegation of the Russian Federation” said that the breakfast format did not involve communication with the White House staff. .

Time magazine wrote that Torshin and Butina "were part of a multi-year campaign to build ties between Russian leaders and American conservatives." “This crusade, which preceded Trump’s ascent, attracted little attention, but achieved significant success by creating new alliances with leaders of American evangelicals, parliamentarians and powerful interest groups like the NRA,” the article said.

In recent years, when any potential ties between Trump and Russia have become the subject of close attention of the American media, journalists began to write a lot about Butina. In December, 2017, she was mentioned in The New York Times material about Erickson’s attempts to establish a connection between Trump’s headquarters and the Kremlin - Erickson, as early as May 2016, communicating with a staff member, he stated that he had already “developed” these ties. In January, McClatchy mentioned Butin in a publication about an investigation that the FBI allegedly leads against Torshin: according to journalists, the security services suspected that Russia could finance Trump through the NRA (she donated $ 30 million dollars to the campaign). Materials about Butina also appeared in Time, The Daily Beast, Mother Jones and other publications.

In May, Butina’s 2018 was released from the American University in Washington.

What are they blaming Butina?

In an indictment issued by 16 in July, the FBI calls Maria Butina an assistant to an unnamed Russian official who was previously a senator and now holds a high position in the Central Bank (obviously, Torshin is meant). It was with him, according to investigators, that she entered into a conspiracy to promote Russia's strategic interests in Washington, without registering as foreign agent, and acted on his instructions from 2015 of the year to February of 2017. Russian media write that Butinu is accused of espionage, but it is not.

In a document written by an FBI agent, in addition to the “Russian official” (Torshina), “American No. 1” (probably Paul Erickson) and “American No. 2” are mentioned.

In March, Butina's 2015, wrote “American No. 1” a letter entitled “The Second Pozner”. The letter says that in 2016, the president will most likely become a Republican and is now the right moment to build constructive relations between Russia and the party, which has traditionally adhered to anti-Russian positions. Butina writes that the NRA occupies a “central” place in the party - and that she, as a “representative of unofficial Russian diplomacy,” has already been introduced to the leaders of American conservative circles. The letter also states that for participation of Butina in republican conferences 125 thousand dollars are necessary. In response, “American No. 1” sent her a list of politicians, business representatives and the media who “understand Russian-American relations under Presidents Obama and Putin” and “would like to understand relations under new presidents”.

The Ministry of Justice documents cite fragments of Butina’s correspondence with Torshin and both Americans. I corresponded with Twitter Torshin Butin (he is one of the most active Twitter users among Russian politicians). According to the FBI, they discussed various events involving the Americans in Russia and the United States. In one of the messages, Butina wrote to Torshin that his mission was “to restore relations” between Russia and the United States.

In correspondence with the Americans, Mary Butina discussed holding “friendship and dialogue” events in Washington and her participation in the National Prayer Breakfast. In March, Butina wrote 2016, “American No. 2”, that Torshin confirmed her desire to realize “their Russian-American project” and that “a Kremlin representative approved this communication channel.” “All we need is yes from Putin’s side. The rest is simpler, ”the FBI quotes Buta’s letter. She also stated that Torshin was “very impressed” by the American and his contribution to the restoration of relations between the countries.

In September, Butina's 2016, discussed the organization of the next event with the Americans in October, since "there were only two months left before the elections" and "it is necessary to create a team of advisers for Russia for the new president." In October, “American number 1” wrote to a friend that “was involved in the creation of a VERY private communication channel” between the Kremlin and the Republicans through the NRA.

In October, Butina and Torshin discussed whether to become an observer at the elections in the United States, but they decided that the risk was too high: “now we must act quietly and carefully.” In November, after Trump's victory in the elections, Torshin asked Butin “to think in which directions you can work” to bring the countries closer. “ISIS - is it clear what else you need to look at in the American agenda?” He asked. In the future, they discussed who could be appointed US Secretary of State and how in Russia they would accept possible candidates.

The last talk mentioned in the materials of the Ministry of Justice concerns the National Prayer Breakfast 2017 of the year. In particular, Butina wrote 30 in November that “American No. 1” wrote that Torshin made a list of the Russian delegation and that they are “very influential people in Russia” who will come to “establish an unofficial communication channel” (except for Torshin and Butina, for breakfast) , political scientist Andrei Kolyadin and head of Yakutsk Aisen Nikolaev).

According to The Washington Post, the FBI conducted this case separately from the investigation of Russian interference in the elections, which special prosecutor Robert Muller is engaged in. The newspaper writes that the FBI has decided to arrest Maria Butina because of information that she is about to leave Washington.

According to the FBI, Butina’s actions fall under the definition of "Foreign agent" - it is legal if officially registered in this capacity with the Ministry of Justice, but Butina did not do that.

The maximum penalty for the charges brought by Butina is five years in prison.

How to react to the arrest of Butina

Robert Driscoll, Butina’s lawyer, said that she was not an agent for Russia. According to him, the FBI is trying to pass a "friendly dinners of Americans and Russians to discuss relations between countries" for conspiring to violate the law on foreign agents. Driscoll said that for months, Butina worked with various government agencies about “public statements about her contacts with various people from America and Russia,” voluntarily testified in the Senate Intelligence Committee and provided the authorities with “thousands of documents” for eight hours. She also offered to testify for the investigation of Special Prosecutor Muller, but he allegedly "did not express interest." After a search at her home in April, she repeatedly offered the Justice Ministry to answer the questions, but there they “decided to arrest her,” the lawyer concluded.

Senator Konstantin Kosachev, after the appearance of the first reports of the arrest by Butina, said: “Unfortunately, something like this was to be expected - the anti-Russian machine resists by all available means. And yes, it can be a reaction of the American hawk-siloviki’s machine that went out of control to the results of the [Putin and Trump] summit. ”

The father of the arrested Valeriy Butin, commenting on the reports about the accusations of his daughter of espionage, said: “I am sure that she didn’t and doesn’t engage in any such cases, and I am sure of this by more than 100%. This is psychopathy. Witch-hunt".

Alexander Torshin did not comment on the arrest of his close friend. The deputy chairman of the Central Bank did not respond to calls to Medusa.

The Russian Embassy in Washington posted a comment on its Facebook page, saying that it was seeking the US authorities to provide consular access to Russian citizen Maria Butina, accused of conspiring to work as an agent of the Russian Government without the consent of the US Attorney General. So far, we have not been given such an opportunity.