The Russian national
pointed out, that she had been convicted only because she was Russian.
WASHINGTON, November
4. /TASS/. Russian national Maria Butina, who has recently been released from a
US prison, in an interview with CBS said that being in jail was "a
torture." The interview was recorded shortly before the Butina’s release.
According to the
interviewer, Butina particularly wanted to talk about "the conditions in
the Washington DC jail where she was first held." "Cockroaches were
everywhere, she claimed. No mattresses or blankets," the interviewed added.
"It is a
torture. It is not normal for a human being to be locked for 23, 20, 22 hours
in a cell by your own. Do you really think for not filing the paper you deserve
18 months of incarceration, four months in solitary confinement, and all this
experience in jail? Is that the way?" Butina said.
"God found me.
He was always there. And helped me to go through all these tough days,"
the Russian added. Russian Orthodox priest Viktor Potapov visited Maria in
prison and provided her with religious literature.
The reason of the
imprisonment
Maria Butina also
made it clear that she had been convicted only because she was Russian.
The interviewer
pointed out that the judge had said Butina’s crime "was a threat to our
democratic institutions." Maria responded that "it is very sad for
me, because it shows how broken the justice system in the United States
is." According to her, the judge was "absolutely wrong."
"You cannot charge a person with a crime for collecting information with
not specifying what information. I have never collected any sensitive or
classified information," the Russian noted.
When asked to comment
on the charges that she had been "making connections with
Republicans" in order to "influence US policy," Butina pointed
out that "if I were not Russian, that would be called social
networking."
"It’s all
conspiracy theories. There is absolutely no proof of any of that, and I am not
aware of any actions like this," Maria added, rejecting allegations that
there were some "government person" behind her.
"I never sought
to influence your policies. I came here on my own because I wanted to learn
from the United States and go back to Russia to make Russia better,"
Butina emphasized.
Butina case
Butina, 30, was
arrested in Washington on July 15, 2018, ahead of a meeting between Russian
President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump in Helsinki. She
was charged with conspiracy to act as a foreign agent in the United States.
American intelligence services argued that the Russian citizen carried out this
activity without being registered as an agent of a foreign state at the
Department of Justice.
On December 13, 2018,
Butina pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the US law governing foreign
agents operating in the country and signed a plea bargain. On April 26, 2019,
she was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Moscow stated that the charges had
been trumped-up, and demanded her release.
Butina's sentence
ended on October 25. She was released from prison and deported to Russia.
The Russian initially
went to the United States for a college course and obtained a master’s degree
in international relations from American University in Washington.
Source: ITAR-TASS
04-11-2019
