Maria Butina sentenced to 18 months in prison for trying to infiltrate NRA
Maria Butina, the Russian national who admitted being a secret agent for the Kremlin in an attempt to infiltrate the NRA, was sentenced Friday to 18 months in prison.
The 30-year-old Siberian native said she was “ashamed and embarrassed” by her own actions.
US District Judge Tanya Chutkan also granted a request to deport Butina to Russia after her prison stint ends.
She pleaded guilty in December to conspiring with a senior Russian official to access the NRA and other groups from 2015 until she was arrested in July.
Butina admitted trying to infiltrate the gun rights group in an effort to create unofficial lines of communication between conservative US politicians and Moscow.
The former graduate student at American University worked with a conservative US political activist, Paul Erickson, in her effort to influence lawmakers, court records said.
Erickson, who was also romantically involved with Butina, told her which lawmakers to target for meetings, according to court papers.
With Post wires
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