NPR: Butina and her mentor urged the United States that Russia did not knock down MN17 over Donbas

New documents obtained by the American news agency NPR shed light on the influence campaign carried out in Washington in 2015 by Maria Butina and her mentor Alexander Torshin, who at the time held a senior position in the Russian Central Bank. The other day, Butina gave her first interview - a journalist from the American National Public Radio (NPR) spoke with the convicted Russian woman.

Photo: facebook.com/mariavbutina

To a request submitted under the law on openness of information, NPR received internal documents of the US Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve, which refers to the meeting of officials with Torshin and Butina in 2015, writes Voice of America.

Torshin is now under US sanctions, Butina pleaded guilty to working as a Russian agent in the US; She is sentenced to imprisonment for 18 months.

In the interview NPR On May 9, Butina described her meetings with U.S. officials and politicians as “civil, unofficial diplomacy.”

“That's been my goal all along... I believe that the relationship and its strength... depends on the people, depends on what they call citizen diplomacy. From people who have similar interests. Similar hobbies. Similar minds, similar people who are, say... Christians who share a faith, or people who share a love of guns. This is exactly what I was addressing. I built informal communication in the field of civil diplomacy.”

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, relations between Russia and the United States deteriorated, and in 2015, Torshin and Butina tried to use his position at the Central Bank to establish contacts with US officials. In particular, to promote the position that Russia did not play any role in bringing down an MN17 flight plane in the sky over the Donbas follows from the documents.

A meeting of Torshin and Butina with an official of the US Treasury Department took place on 7 on April 2015.

A few years after the meeting, when Butina was arrested, a US Treasury Department official wrote about the meeting. At the meeting, the discussion was not so much about banking activities, but about the denial of Russia’s participation in the downing of the Malaysia Airlines flight in the skies over the Donbass.

“The meeting was supposed to be about the economy, but he went on and on about how the Russians didn’t shoot down MH17 for about an hour,” the American official wrote.

On the subject: "You can’t even imagine the worst intelligence officer": a spy scandal in the eyes of Maria Butina

Torshin also talked a lot about his passion for weapons.

“The guy is a gun enthusiast and said he has a lifetime membership in the National Rifle Association. I think he was actually in town on personal business related to the NRA,” said a Treasury official.

Torshin also tried to meet with the head of the US Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen. The meeting was arranged with her deputy, Stanley Fischer, on April 8, 2015. This meeting was really about the Russian economy.

In a commentary for NPR, Butina called the meetings insignificant, and about the meeting with Fischer said: “Torshin directly stated that he was here as a member of the NRA and was simply interested in meeting like-minded people ... I don’t even remember the details of the conversation, because it was generally unimportant "

Telecasting 2015 of the year. Photo: video frame YouTube / Maria Butina

What did Butina say in the first interview with the American media

Maria Butina, sentenced to months of imprisonment for 18 for violating US law on registration of foreign agents, gave an interview to American public radio - NPR. Now Butina is in a temporary detention center, awaiting transfer to a federal prison, writes Voice of America.

NPR journalist Mary Louise Kelly told NPR how she interviewed Butina. She met with Maria at the Detention Center in Alexandria, Virginia. They talked on the phone intercom through the glass, and every few minutes the conversation was interrupted. The system reported that the conversation was being monitored and recorded. According to the prison rules, you cannot bring mobile phones and recording devices to a meeting with a prisoner.

That is, the journalist did not have the opportunity to record the interview directly during this first conversation. Maria, she said, contacted her the next day and said that she had the right to communicate, enshrined in the First Amendment to the US Constitution. Maria herself called NPR, the radio station paid for the conversation, which lasted 45 minutes.

According to Butina, she came to the United States because she wanted to help strengthen peaceful relations between Moscow and Washington. However, she denies that her activities were part of a Kremlin-coordinated campaign, the purpose of which was to influence the outcome of the US presidential election.

Robert Anderson is a former assistant director of the FBI counterintelligence department, and in court in writing provided an official opinion on the actions of Maria Butina in the United States. According to experts, its activities between 2015 and 2017 should be considered a targeted intelligence operation of the Russian government.

If Butina could manage to establish informal communication channels established by her, this would be in the interests of the Russian authorities. Anderson added that Butina conducted operational assessment activities. The agents who do this are often not trained intelligence personnel. It is advantageous to use just such agents, and not employees of the special services - the government can always deny their involvement.

On the subject: Maria Butina spoke about the conditions in the US prison

Maria herself categorically denied in an interview that she was an employee of the special services of Russia. At the same time, Butina admitted that she was in close contact with Alexander Torshin, who was once deputy chairman of the Central Bank of Russia, some called the curator of Maria. He is also under Russian sanctions. At the same time, Maria also stated that she had never concealed her love for Russia and the United States.

And in early May, Butina spoke at a virtual press conference organized by the International Committee for the Protection of Human Rights in Russia. On it, Butina stated that she reads (for the most part, Russian and religious Orthodox literature) in prison, prays, and also rewrites culinary recipes from cellmates. She said that she lives according to a strict schedule, goes in for sports a lot and tries to learn - which, however, she didn’t specify. The girl said that while in prison, she plans to work as a teacher.

According to her, she was “already teaching the local population.” According to Butina, “comrades from Mueller” (the US special prosecutor investigating Russian interference in the American elections) talked with her for no more than five minutes, then “they closed the daddy and left”, never called or contacted her again. According to her, investigators were interested in communications between former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Butina's boyfriend, Paul Erickson.

The Russian woman said that she knew nothing about it. This was the only time she mentioned Ericson's name during a press conference. The full interview with Butina will be published in the coming days, and she herself will be released on November 5, after which she will be deported to Russia.

Record 2014 of the year. Photo: video frame YouTube / Maria Butina

Butina said that her “notes and analysis” were transferred to the Russian Foreign Ministry

In the same interview, Maria Butina stated that the Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, Alexander Torshin, transmitted the materials received from her to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, writes Medusa.

Butina said she was honored to know that Foreign Ministry officials might find her “notes and analysis” valuable.

Maria Butina noted that she had to register in the United States as a foreign agent, but did not do this, since her actions were public and she was not a spy.

“It would be wrong to say that this was one grandiose, gigantic plan, and I am part of such a plan,” the Russian woman noted for NPR. - There is no evidence of that. And I don’t know that there is a specific plan.”

She pointed out that she is not mentioned in the edited version of the report of Special Prosecutor Robert Muller and does not know anything about interference in the elections, except for what she saw in the press.

“Obtaining information of value to a foreign power does not necessarily involve collecting classified documents or engaging in fraudulent activities,” Justice Department prosecutors wrote before Butina was sentenced to 18 months in prison. “Something as basic as identifying people who can influence policy in favor of a foreign power is extremely attractive to those powers.” This identification may form the basis for other forms of intelligence operations in the future."

“I was very hurt because my idea was to come here as a peacemaker. I have never hidden my love for either my homeland or this country. I love both countries. The worst pain in my situation is that I am embarrassed that instead of creating peace - by not registering - I created discord. This is what I will live with until the end of my days,” Butina said NPR.

Butina added that she does not fear for her safety due to the fact that she is deported to Russia after she is serving a prison sentence. After returning, she wants to go to Siberia, where she grew up, and will try to become a professor, although now it is not entirely clear what will happen when she returns.

“I’ll probably need a sabbatical,” Butina said, because the last few years “have been filled with some pretty intense emotional experiences.”

As wrote earlier ForumDaily:

• Already nine months Russian woman Maria Butina is in Alexandria prisonVirginia. A civilian activist, a supporter of weapons legalization, came to the United States on a student visa on 2016, to study at American University in Washington.
• The state prosecution, however, believes that Butina was engaged far from studying. According to the prosecution, Butin, having entered into an “ambitious” plot with former Central Bank deputy chairman Alexander Torshin, planned to establish unofficial channels of communication between Russia and people who are influential in American politics.
• Butinu in the US is accused of collusion in the interests of Russia. She tried to build an unofficial channel of communication between countries in the interests of the Russian side. The state prosecution believes that she acted on the instructions of the Russian authorities.
• 26 April Maria Butina received 18 months in prison by a US court - It was at this time that the prosecutors insisted. She has already served half of her term.
• Judge Tanya Chatken said that one and a half years in prison was sufficient punishment, given the seriousness of the charges brought by Butina. By a court decision, a Russian woman may be deported back home after serving a term.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Russians in the USA: what role do they play and how do we want to celebrate their contribution

Maria Butina spoke about the conditions in the US prison

The court in the United States issued a sentence to the Russian spy Butina: she has already served half of the term

The family of the American who died in the accident MN17 sued the banks of Russia

The tragedy of MH17: the US State Department called on Russia to stop lying

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