On July 15, 2018, Butina, while a Russian citizen residing in Washington D.C., was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and charged with conspiring to act as an unregistered Russian agent. In an affidavit in support of the arrest warrant,[6] the FBI wrote that Butina sought to “exploit personal connections with U.S. persons having influence in American politics in an effort to advance the interests of the Russian Federation.” Prior to her arrest, Butina, along with Torshin and Paul Erickson, an American political operative, were under investigation for their potential involvement in Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections; Torshin was also the subject of an FBI probe into whether the Russian government had attempted to illegally funnel money to the National Rifle Association in order to help Donald Trump win the presidency.

Butina was born in Barnaul, Altai Krai, Russia, on November 10, 1988. Her mother was an engineer, and her father was an entrepreneur who built a furniture manufacturing business in Barnaul. She studied political science at Altai State Universityand also received a teaching degree. At 19, she was elected to the Public Council of Altai Krai in the last direct election for the CouncilA

Butina built a furniture retail business in her native Altai Krai after taking a bank loan when she was 21. In 2011, she moved to Moscow and sold six of her seven furniture stores to start an advertising agency. That year, Butina participated in the Youth Primaries organized by the Young Guard of United Russia, the youth wing of the United Russia party, the ruling political party of the Russian Federation, and some time later started working for Aleksandr Torshin, who was then a Senator in the Federation Council of Russia and a leading member of United Russia.

Also in 2011, while still Torshin's assistant, Butina founded a gun-rights organization, Right to Bear Arms, and began traveling back and forth to the U.S., initially with Torshin. In 2012, Butina and Torshin lobbied the Federation Council to expand gun rights. Torshin became deputy governor of the Central Bank of Russia in January 2015, and she remained his assistant until May 2017.

In 2015, Butina said Right to Bear Arms had 10,000 members and 76 offices in Russia.

In 2017, Butina told The Washington Post that she never worked for the Russian government.

Torshin and Butina established a cooperative relationship between the National Rifle Association (NRA) and Right to Bear Arms. Torshin has attended NRA annual meetings in the United States since at least 2011. Following the 2011 meeting, then NRA President David Keene expressed his support for Torshin's "endeavors" and extended an invitation to the 2012 meeting. Torshin also attended NRA annual meetings in 2012 and 2013. In November 2016, Torshin tweeted that he and Butina were lifetime NRA members. Butina and Torshin attended the 2014 NRA annual meeting as special guests of former NRA president Keene. Butina attended the Women's Leadership Luncheon at the 2014 meeting as a guest of former NRA president Sandy Froman. Butina presented to then NRA president Jim Porter a plaque from Right to Bear Arms. Afterwards, she tweeted "Mission accomplished." As Keene's guest, Butina rang the NRA's Liberty Bell, saying, "To the right to bear arms for citizens of the whole world." Butina and Torshin also attended the 2015 NRA annual convention.

In November 2013, Keene was a guest at the conference of the Right to Bear Arms in Moscow. In 2015, a number of NRA officials attended Right to Bear Arms's annual gun conference in Russia. Among them were Keene, gun manufacturer and NRA first vice president Pete Brownell, conservative American political operative Paul Erickson, and Milwaukee Countysheriff David Clarke. One of their hosts was Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who in 2014 was sanctioned by the White House following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Clarke's trip cost $40,000, with all expenses paid by the NRA, Pete Brownell (an NRA board member and CEO of a gun-parts supply company) and Right to Bear Arms. According to a disclosure Clarke filed, Right to Bear Arms paid $6,000 to cover his meals, lodging, transportation and other expenses.During the meeting, Clarke met the Russian foreign minister and attended a conference at which Torshin spoke.]

Butina has attempted to develop ties to conservative American politics. In a supporting affidavit to the government's support for pre-trial detention following her indictment in United States of America v. Mariia Butina, the FBI stated that she had successfully sought ties to the Republican Party, where it is referred to as "POLITICAL PARTY 1".According to The Daily Beast, she has presented herself as a "Russian central bank staffer, a leading gun rights advocate, a 'representative of the Russian Federation,' a Washington, D.C. graduate student, a journalist, and a connection between Team Trump and Russia" in order to gain access to "high-level contacts" in Washington, D.C.. At the 2014 NRA annual meeting, Butina took selfieswith Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and former U.S. Senator and 2016 presidential candidate Rick Santorum. At the 2015 NRA annual meeting, she met Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, and on July 13, 2015, she was present at the launch of Walker's 2016 presidential campaign.

In June 2015, four days before Trump announced his candidacy for president, Butina wrote an article for The National Interest, a conservative American international affairs magazine, urging better relations between the United States and Russia. She wrote, "It may take the election of a Republican to the White House in 2016 to improve relations between the Russian Federation and the United States." Her biography in The National Interest failed to mention Butina still worked for the Russian government. The next month, Butina attended FreedomFest, where Trump gave a speech, and asked him from the audience about ending U.S. sanctions against Russia, to which Trump replied, "I don't think you'd need the sanctions."

In February 2016, Butina started a South Dakota business, Bridges LLC, with Erickson. The company is described as "including but not limited to a consulting company."[26] Erickson later said the company was established in case Butina needed any monetary assistance for her graduate studies — “an unusual way to use an LLC”, which Butina commenced in mid-2016. Later that year, Erickson sent an email with the subject line "Kremlin Connection" to Trump campaign adviser Rick Dearborn, repeatedly asking Dearborn and then-Senator Jeff Sessions for advice on setting up a meeting between Trump and Putin at an annual NRA convention.Butina hosted a birthday party attended by Erickson and Trump campaign aides shortly after the 2016 election.

Butina, Torshin, and Erickson have been subjects of an investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. Torshin has also been the subject of a probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation into whether the Russian government attempted to illegally funnel money to the NRA in order to help Trump win the presidency. The FBI began to monitor Butina in August 2016 when she moved to the United States on a F-1 student visa. Rather than confront her immediately, the organization chose to track her movements and gather information of who she was meeting, and what her end goals were to be.

On July 15, 2018, Butina was arrested in Washington, D.C. and charged with conspiracy to act as an unregistered Russian agent within the United States.

According to the affidavit in support of the complaint, from as early as 2015 and continuing through at least February 2017, Butina worked at the direction of a high-level official in the Russian government, widely believed to be Torshin. The court filings detail the Russian official’s and Butina’s efforts for Butina to act as an agent of Russia inside the United States by developing relationships with U.S. persons and infiltrating organizations having influence in American politics—such as the National Rifle Association, the National Prayer Breakfast and religious organizations—for the purpose of advancing the interests of the Russian Federation. The filings also describe certain actions taken by Butina to further this effort during multiple visits from Russia and, later, when she entered and resided in the United States on a student visa. The filings allege that she undertook her activities without officially disclosing the fact that she was acting as an agent of Russian government, as required by law.

 

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