Maria Butina, Russian Agent With NRA Ties, Gets 18 Months

Butina worked on back channels between Russia, U.S. officials
Russia got ‘tremendous intelligence value,” FBI official says

This courtroom sketch depicts Maria Butina, in orange suit, a 29-year-old gun-rights activist suspected of being a covert Russian agent, listening to her attorney Robert Driscoll, standing, as he speaks to Judge Deborah Robinson, left, during a hearing in federal court in Washington, Wednesday, July 18, 2018.Photographer: Dana Verkouteren/FR31454 AP

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By David McLaughlin and Greg Farrell

April 26, 2019 at 3:12 PM UTC

Updated on

April 26, 2019 at 8:33 PM UTC

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Maria Butina, the self-styled Russian gun-rights activist who befriended senior officials from the National Rifle Association and the Republican party in the run-up to the 2016 election, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for failing to register in the U.S. as an agent of a foreign government.

Dressed in a green jump suit, Butina told U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington Friday that she was "deeply sorry" and felt "ashamed and embarrassed" by the international scandal she caused.