A day after U.S. President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Trump is going back on comments he made during their joint press conference. (July 17) AP
WASHINGTON – A Russian national accused of secretly conspiring against the U.S. by infiltrating political organizations, including the National Rifle Association, was indicted Tuesday by a grand jury.
The grand jury indictment expands on the charges unsealed Monday against Mariia Butina, 29, who federal prosecutors say was working on behalf of Russia since at least 2015. She faces charges of conspiracy and acting as an agent of a foreign government and is expected to appear in court Wednesday.
The charges are separate from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
The indictment released Tuesday by a federal grand jury details Butina entering the U.S. in 2016 on a student visa, on which she declared she’d formerly worked for a Russian official, who isn’t named in the document.
Alexander Torshin, a Russian politician and a top official of Russia’s central bank, has been the subject of several media reports about his…
