Maria Butina: alleged Russian spy ‘offered sex’ for political access

A 29-year-old woman arrested on Sunday on suspicion of being a Russian agent will be detained in the US until her trial, following a series of revelations by US prosecutors.

According to documents lodged in a US federal court yesterday, Maria Butina was “in contact with suspected Russian intelligence officers and a billionaire oligarch linked to the Kremlin”, The Guardian says.

CNN reports that Butina faces “two criminal charges of conspiracy and acting as a foreign agent in the US”. They stem from “photos, texts, private Twitter messages and other communications she had with Russians discussing her aims to infiltrate the Republican Party through the National Rifle Association”.

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Butina was allegedly in a relationship with a US citizen, whom the BBC has identified as South Dakota political activist Paul Erickson.

However, prosecutors have told the court that Butina had also offered sex to another person “in exchange for a position within a special interest organisation”.

Butina will be held without bail until her trial and, if convicted, faces up to 15 years in prison.