Alleged Russian agent Maria Butina poised to plead guilty in case involving suspected Kremlin attempts to influence NRA
Some excerpts from the Post article:
Maria Butina, a Russian gun rights activist, is poised to plead guilty in a case involving accusations that she was working as an agent for the Kremlin in the United States, according to a new court filing.
But prosecutors said her goal was to advance the foreign policy aims of the Kremlin and that she was acting at the direction of a Russian government official, Alexander Torshin, a former senator who now serves as deputy director of the Russian central bank.
Prosecutors have alleged that Russian operatives hacked the email accounts of leading Democrats, releasing private correspondence through WikiLeaks and also posed as Americans on social media, skillfully spreading propaganda and false news articles designed to hurt Clinton and exploit divisions in American society.
How Butina fit into those efforts is not entirely clear. However, experts have said her activities are a reminder of the sophistication of the Russian targeting of the American political system, which successfully pinpointed the NRA and other conservative interest groups as an avenue to mold opinion of Republican elected officials.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/alleged-russian-agent-maria-butina-poised-to-plead-guilty-in-case-involving-kremlin-attempts-to-influence-nra/2018/12/10/3d91609e-f0f7-11e8-80d0-f7e1948d55f4_story.html?utm_term=.584c485e36ed