![]() Butina self-identifies as a prison activist, and used her new platform to interview Putin’s main opposition figure, Alexei Navalny, after Navalny complained that he was being abused in his penal colony. Since her return home in 2019, Butina has made dozens of media appearances, performed as a host on Russia’s state TV network, RT, and published a memoir, Prison Diary, about her American incarceration. It wasn’t American media audiences whom she was trying to influence here, but Vladimir Putin, who was now watching Butina and determining her fate upon her return to Russia. has a “racism against Russians,” and her only motive was to network with Americans in order to improve her home country. In her interview with Lesley Stahl for 60 Minutes, Butina insisted that the U.S. Realizing that her future in American politics had come to an end, Butina engaged in media opportunities during her incarceration to share pro-Russian rhetoric and speak negatively about U.S. Butina was born in Barnaul, a small provincial city 2,260 miles from Moscow.īutina claimed that she was sentenced “ for simply being Russian,” suggesting that she was a scapegoat in the 2016 Russian election interference investigations. Her past can be traced back to her humble beginnings in Siberia. A simple look into Butina’s history reveals this familiar story. In America, we celebrate the grand legends around “rags to riches” and “strong women” who rise against all challenges to pursue their dreams. Butina wasn’t hired by the Kremlin to perform an influence campaign she volunteered. ![]() The evidence shows how Butina sought to influence foreign policy due to her own idealism and desire to insinuate herself into elite networks. In 2018, she pled guilty to conspiracy to act as a foreign agent after the FBI presented a case around her involvement in using the NRA to create illegal back channels between Russia and the Trump presidential campaign.Īlthough the FBI’s affidavit fails to prove Butina’s formal employment by the Russian Federation, the document does paint a clear picture of an ambitious young woman motivated by power. “Russian spy” Maria Butina, who joined the ranks of the Russian parliament last month, had an untraditional rise.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |