Russian Spy Maria Butina Released For Deportation

Reuters reports:



Convicted Russian agent Maria Butina was released from a Florida prison on Friday after serving most of her 18-month sentence for conspiring to influence U.S. conservative activists and infiltrate a powerful gun rights group, and taken into custody by immigration officials to be deported to her native country.

A prison official confirmed she was released on Friday morning and taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities. Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously expressed “outrage” over Butina’s prison sentence and said she did not carry out any orders from Russian security services.

The Siberia native admitted to conspiring with a Russian official and two Americans to infiltrate the National Rifle Association, a group closely aligned with U.S. conservatives and Republican politicians including President Donald Trump, and create unofficial lines of communication to try to shape Washington’s policy toward Moscow.