Butina’s Help Shows U.S. How Russia Wormed Into GOP Politics

Maria Butina was no spy. No trained Russian agent would appear on videos chatting up American governors or brazenly posing as a reporter to question a presidential candidate, as Butina did during her quixotic mission to infiltrate conservative power centers.

So her usefulness to investigators under her new cooperation agreement may be limited. But her improbable success in getting close to influential Washington politicos could offer U.S. authorities useful insights into how the Russians might employ low-cost, long-odds tactics to make secret inroads and gather intelligence, several law-enforcement experts said.