Who Is Maria Butina? 16 Fast Facts About The Accused Russian Spy

Alleged Russian spy Maria Butina has entered into a plea deal for her arrest in July, stemming from the accusations that she tried to infiltrate the U.S. gun rights movement. Pleading guilty to a single conspiracy charge brought by federal prosecutors, Butina has agreed to cooperate with investigators. This raises the question of who exactly is Butina? Here’s everything we know about her so far.

1. Butina is 29 years old.
2. She is a suspected Russian spy and is being charged with conspiracy for acting as an unregistered foreign agent. Butina was arrested on July 15.
3. She is a Russian national that was able to enter the U.S. on a student visa, according to Fox News. She was enrolled at American University in Washington D.C., where she received her graduate degree in May, the news outlet reported.
4. She grew up in a modest apartment in Barnaul, Russia, Fox News said. Barnaul is closer to Mongolia's and Kazakh's borders than Moscow's.
5. Butina is well-known for her pro-gun rights activism and has even started Russian gun-rights groups within Moscow, as reported by Fox News.
6. Her interest in high-level politics was peaked when she attended a special camp for up-and-coming political adults, which was run by the pro-Kremlin United Russia Party, Fox News reported.
7. According to court documents, she allegedly “offered sex to someone” in exchange for a position within a special interest organization.
8. She “gained access” to an “extensive network” influential U.S. people with political ties by living and having a personal relationship with another individual, according to court documents. The individual was not named in court documents.
9. There is FBI evidence that Butina has corresponded with Russian intelligence operatives, according to prosecutors.
10. She has been compared to Anna Chapman, a Russian spy that was also arrested and deported, Fox News reported.
11. Butina attended Donald Trump’s January 2017 inauguration with Republican Paul Erickson.
12. She once asked Trump during the electoral race what his foreign policy platform, including the relationship between the U.S. and Russia, would be if elected, Fox News reported. She even asked him a question during a town hall meeting in 2015.
13. She met Donald Trump Jr. at a 2016 NRA convention, according to The Washington Post.
14. Butina hosted NRA executives and gun activists in Moscow, including David Clark, former Milwaukee County, Wisconsin sheriff, according to Fox News.
15. She was believed to be planning to leave the U.S. at the time of her arrest, according to prosecutors, as her belonging were packed in boxes and her lease was up on her apartment.
16. She is currently in prison awaiting trial.