"In her first public appearance since being deported by U.S. authorities who had jailed her for being a Russian agent, Maria Butina was on Monday offered a job by Moscow to defend Russians imprisoned abroad. Butina, who flew back to Russia on October 26 after being deported, did not say whether she would accept the offer made at what she called her first public appearance since she was mobbed by wellwishers in front of the media at the airport on her arrival home. Butina pleaded guilty in December last year to one count of conspiring to act as a foreign agent for Russia by infiltrating a gun rights group and influencing U.S. conservative activists and Republicans, a conviction slammed as ridiculous by Moscow. Russia accused Washington of forcing Butina to confess. The case put strain on relations that were already under pressure from an array of issues including U.S. allegations of Russian election meddling and Russia's annexation of Crimea. Moscow denies any interference in U.S. elections. Moskalkova said she also knew that Butina had been offered a job in the State Duma, the Russian lower house of parliament, and urged her to accept that one too." https://www.yahoo.com/news/russia-offers-job-maria-butina-172441526.html She didn't do anything that should have been illegal. Yet another unethical prosecution relying on a twisted blatantly absurd interpretation of law. Probably some Democrat activist prosecutor that was just looking for some Russian she could pen blame on, since they needed to have evidence of "Russians influencing the election" for the sake of public perception. The fact this Russian was affiliating with a gun rights group just made her a perfect target in the eyes of that prosecutor. There's no way a foreigner joining a grass roots political movement can be seen as "acting as a foreign agent" to affect the election process. Were there large amounts of money that exchanged hands? No. Her alleged activities which constituted a crime was "developing relationships with U.S. persons and infiltrating organizations having influence in the Republican Party". According to the Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, "having created unbearable conditions for her and threatening her with a long jail sentence, she was literally forced to sign up to absolutely ridiculous charges." (referring to the practice of being coerced into a plea bargain) related thread: Arrest of Huawei financial officer demonstrates U.S. willingness to impose its laws abroad
The judge had denied her bail and they were practically keeping her in solitary confinement, so not surprisingly, her guilty plea did not really mean any more prison time than if she had gone to trial.
The criminal Kreml regime under Pootin always denies everything. Whether they had shot down a Malaysian passenger plane, poisoned an ex-spy, or helped pro-Russian terrorists to assault Ukraine. It was always someone else.
