Maria Butina, Russian who conspired to infiltrate U.S. groups, visits Navalny in jail, with video cameras in tow

[Rogue Valley]

Maria Butina, Russian who conspired to infiltrate U.S. groups, visits Navalny in jail, with video cameras in tow

4/1/21
MOSCOW — Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, on a hunger strike after being denied medical care, has been hoping for a visit from a doctor. Instead he got a less welcome visitor Thursday: Maria Butina, the Russian agent convicted and jailed for conspiring to infiltrate political organizations in the United States without registering with authorities. According to a post by Navalny’s team on his Twitter account, Butina was reporting for the Kremlin-funded RT television network, formerly Russia Today. Navalny is in Penal Colony No. 2, near Vladimir, 112 miles east of Moscow, where he says guards wake him up eight times a night and have punished him for numerous infractions. Among them: getting up 10 minutes early, wearing a T-shirt to meet his lawyer, declining to watch a video lecture and refusing to do morning exercises. “Instead of a doctor, Butina, a wretched propagandist from RT channel, arrived today accompanied by video cameras,” said a post Thursday on Navalny’s Twitter account. She was “shouting that this is the best and most comfortable prison.” The account said Navalny lectured her for 15 minutes in front of the other prisoners, calling her “a parasite and a servant of thieves.” Posts on Navalny’s social media are made in his name by members of his team since he has no access to the Internet.

Discipline in Penal Colony No. 2 is enforced by prisoners called “activists” who cooperate with prison authorities and report infractions, often in return for privileges or reduced sentences. According to Navalny’s Twitter feed, Butina concluded her visit by interviewing “activists who told her how good everything is.” Navalny, suffering severe back pain, requested access to a doctor and painkilling injections. He says he is beginning to lose feeling in both legs. Butina’s case came to light amid a scandal over Russian efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election. She was arrested in 2018 and sentenced to 18 months in prison in the United States in April 2019. She pleaded guilty to conspiring with a senior Russian official to infiltrate the National Rifle Association and other groups without registering with the Justice Department as a foreign agent. She was released and deported in October 2019. She admitted to working under the direction of Alexander Torshin, a former Russian government official, in a scheme to establish unofficial lines of communications with Americans who could influence U.S. politics. Butina later claimed she admitted to the crime under pressure from authorities.

Instead of a doctor, Putin sends to Navalny one of his spies and a video crew from RT to record the visit for propaganda purposes.

Butina's American boyfriend was Republican political operative Paul Erickson. In November 2019, Erickson pleaded guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and money laundering in connection with an effort to defraud investors in an oil development scheme. He was sentenced to seven years in federal prison in July 2020 and granted a full pardon on January 13, 2021, seven days prior to Donald Trump's last day in office.

 

[Grandpappy]

Did you know there is a strong market for Russian made guns here in the US?

 

[Rogue Valley]

Did you know there is a strong market for Russian made guns here in the US?

Doesn't have a thing to do with the OP.

What's up Gramps, got a senior citizen crush on Butina?

 

[Grandpappy]

Doesn't have a thing to do with the OP.

What's up Gramps, got a senior citizen crush on Butina?

That's why she was here.

 

[Rogue Valley]

That's why she was here.

Has nothing to do with why she and RT visited Navalny in a Russian prison.

 

[bearpoker]

Maria Butina, Russian who conspired to infiltrate U.S. groups, visits Navalny in jail, with video cameras in tow

Instead of a doctor, Putin sends to Navalny one of his spies and a video crew from RT to record the visit for propaganda purposes.

Butina's American boyfriend was Republican political operative Paul Erickson. In November 2019, Erickson pleaded guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and money laundering in connection with an effort to defraud investors in an oil development scheme. He was sentenced to seven years in federal prison in July 2020 and granted a full pardon on January 13, 2021, seven days prior to Donald Trump's last day in office.

Did she bring her rifle? Her being a big Russian gun rights advocate and all that!