Russian national Maria Butina was given 18 months in prison April 26 for failing to register as a foreign agent while allegedly infiltrating conservative groups in the United States.
The 30-year-old was arrested last July and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate foreign agent laws.
She has admitted to secretly gathering information on the National Rifle Association and other conservative groups at the direction of a Russian oligarch and former lawmaker.
Butina also admitted to seeking relationships with influential politicians in order to establish a “back channel” of communication between the U.S. and Russia, according to an FBI affidavit (pdf).
“We disagree strongly with the court sentence, but we accept the authority and ruling of the court to the 18-month sentence,” her lawyer, Robert Driscoll, said outside the Washington District courthouse after her sentencing.
Butina came to the United States in 2016 on a student visa and studied at American University in Washington.
During that time, she dated an American political operative who allegedly helped her target high-profile politicians.
The goal, according to charging documents, was to influence U.S. policy toward Russia.
While her efforts took place around the same time that Russian agents were seeking to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Butina was not charged in connection with that operation.
Driscoll said Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team interviewed her as part of her cooperation agreement, but she didn’t appear anywhere in the Mueller report.
Butina could have served as many as five years in prison.
Because she is getting credit for time served, she will only be in prison another nine months. Driscoll expects she will be deported sometime this fall.
