Judge orders accused Russian agent Maria Butina to remain jailed

Maria Butina mugshot Image copyright Reuters Image caption Maria Butina is accused of failing to register as a Russian agent in Washington Presentational white space

Maria Butina, a Russian woman who is accused within the US of working as a international agent for the Kremlin, has been ordered to stay jailed pending trial.

District Judge Tanya Chutkan additionally positioned gag orders on both prosecutors and Ms Butina’s legal professionals, ordering them to not speak publicly in regards to the case.

The rulings on Monday got here days after US government lawyers withdrew considered one of their so much explosive allegations.

On Friday, prosecutors admitted that Ms Butina had now not offered intercourse for a role.

A legal professional for the 29-12 months-old Russian gun rights activist accused the government of trying to emblem his shopper as “a few form of Kremlin-skilled seductress, or undercover agent-novel honeypot,” once they made the salacious claim in July.

Image copyright Fb/ Maria Butina

Ms Butina seemed in a Washington DC court docket on Monday, where Pass Judgement On Chutkan ordered her to remain jailed with out bail, due to the danger she might flee to her native Russia.

The Siberian lady, a former American University pupil, has been jailed in Virginia for just about two months, on account that her high-profile arrest in July.

Prosecutors had claimed that she had entered into a “duplicitous courting” with a Republican political operative so as to “enhance the time table of the Russian Federation”.

The man, who’s described as her boyfriend in court docket files, has been recognized in US media as Paul Erickson, a South Dakota-based conservative political activist, who’s listed in public data as being FIFTY SIX years old.

The case isn’t part of the u.s. inquiry into alleged Russian election meddling.

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