The FBI has arrested a 29-year-old Russian woman named Maria Butina, accusing her of being an unregistered agent of the Russian government who targeted American conservatives, including Christian activists.
Butina presented herself as working to establish the right to bear arms in Russia, thus giving her an entrance into the National Rifle Association, where she made numerous public appearances and worked with NRA leadership. She also insinuated herself into the National Prayer breakfast organization, which gave her access to Christian groups. For example, she appeared on Christian radio with Eric Metaxas.
Butina also established connections with Republican politicians and political activists.
She met with officials of the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve on behalf of a Russian national.
Her arrest was unconnected to the Mueller investigation of Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election, though Butina did have dealings with members of Donald Trump’s campaign, including Donald Trump, Jr.
Here is a good survey of her activities, including her sexual relationship with long-time Republican political operative Paul Erickson. Here is another account from Fox News.
Investigators have evidence, including e-mails and surveillance data, that her activities were directed by the Russian government. She was financed by Russian billionaire Konstantin Nikolaev. For the criminal complaint and indictment, go here.
But why? It isn’t as if conservatives have military secrets that Russia would want. Apparently, she was just trying to gain influence with conservatives, promoting the virtues of Putin’s government while winning conservative hearts and minds for his cause.
I don’t think the victims of her deception are necessarily to blame. Of course a Russian who starts a right-to-bear-arms organization is going to attract the NRA. And American Christians are going to be interested in a Russian who says she is a Christian and speaks about religious revival in that ex-communist land. (They might have asked her why the Russian president, at the behest of the Russian Orthodox Church has essentially outlawed evangelicals.) And I’m not sure that the Republican lawmakers and other prominent leaders did much more for her than let her take selfies with them.
But still, this is embarrassing. Could all of this Russian involvement with conservatives–including President Trump’s Russia troubles–be designed to discredit them?
My formative years took place during the Cold War. Conservatives were suspicious to the point of paranoia about Russian efforts to infiltrate the U.S. government and cultural institutions. They took it too far sometimes, but after the collapse of the Soviet Union records were uncovered that showed that Russia did try to infiltrate the U.S. government and cultural institutions.
Today the Soviet Union is no more. But though communism has been dropped as an economic theory and an ideological authority, Russia still has an all-powerful central government, and its president was a top officer of the KGB.
The Russians are still sending spies and still launching operations to undermine the U.S. government.
During the Cold War, many liberals were accused of being “fellow travellers” with the Russians. Now conservatives are getting that accusation.
Have Americans, particularly today’s conservatives, become so naive as to be oblivious to this kind of threat?
Photo of Maria Butina by Pavel Starikov from Russia – Maria Butina, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70986278
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