Russian Agent Detained in the U.S. Accepts Job With Russian Government

Maria Butina will work for the Russian government to defend Russians abroad. (Moscow Times)

Maria Butina, a Russian agent who was jailed in the United States and deported back to Moscow, accepted a job offer from the Russian government during the week of November 18, reported the state-run TASS news agency.

Butina was arrested in the U.S. in July 2018 by the FBI and charged with acting as a foreign operative without the permission of the attorney general. Butina was sentenced to 18 months in a federal prison after she pled guilty to infiltrating the National Rifle Association and the National Prayer Breakfast in order to obtain information from high-ranking politicians on behalf of the Kremlin. In October of this year, she was released from the Tallahassee Federal Correctional Institution and deported back to Moscow through a plea deal.

Even though she admitted to breaking American law, multiple Russian officials viewed her punishment as inappropriate. President Vladimir Putin referred to her arrest as an outrage, and Leonid Slutsky, the deputy of the Russian State Duma, called her trial a “modern political inquisition.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov maintained that Butina’s indictment undermined the "positive results" of the July 2018 Helsinki summit between Presidents Trump and Putin.

Due to Butina’s apparent popularity with the Russian government, she will now work in the Russian Human Rights Commission. Butina was offered the position by Tatyana Moskalkova, the head of the commission, after her first public appearance in Russia.

Although the specific details of her upcoming duties are still undisclosed, state-run news site RT says that Butina will be focused on assisting Russian citizens who run into legal trouble abroad. According to Moskalkova, the Human Rights Commission plans to construct a committee with the purpose of protecting the rights of Russians working on international territory. Butina is expected to be a key member of that committee. The committee’s duties will include making statements in support of Russians facing conflicts with a foreign government, financially assisting them and their families, and holding talks to raise awareness about the issue.