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By Aruna Viswanatha
Updated April 26, 2019 11:54 a.m. ET
A Russian woman who pleaded guilty to conspiring to create back-channel lines of communication to influence Republican political positions was sentenced to 18 months in prison, after a judge sided with prosecutors who argued her actions posed serious national-security risks for the U.S.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered Maria Butina to serve the sentence, saying that her actions didn’t reflect merely registration violations, as Ms. Butina’s attorneys had argued, and that they came against the backdrop of Russia’s wide-ranging efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election.
“The conduct was sophisticated and penetrated deep into political organizations,” Judge Chutkan said.
In pleading guilty in December, Ms. Butina, 30, admitted that while she was a graduate student in Washington, she was also working with a top official from Russia’s central bank to develop back-channel relationships with conservative American politicians, including through the influential National Rifle Association. That conduct violated a law that requires any agents of foreign governments to notify the attorney general of their activities.
