The Intercept: The Butina indictment is about Russian money in US politics, not the sex life of an alleged spy

Published July 23, 2018 at 10:28 am

An editor looks at the Twitter feed of the Embassy of the Russian Federation to the US with a post about the arrest of Russian woman Mariia Butina in Hollywood, California, on July 16, 2018. A 29-year-old Russian woman has been arrested for conspiring to influence US politics by cultivating ties with political groups including the National Rifle Association, the powerful gun rights lobby. Mariia Butina, whose name is sometimes spelled Maria, was arrested in Washington on July 15, 2018 and appeared in court on July 16, the Justice Department said.

Photo by AFP

The federal indictment of Maria Butina, the 29-year-old gun rights activist charged with being a Russian agent, has attracted plenty of media attention this week — but mostly for the wrong reasons.

Many stories about her case have been filled with salacious allegations about her sex life and have been rife with superficial comparisons to the television show “The Americans.” What has been missing in the media narrative is the indictment’s ominous significance. The Butina case is almost certainly the opening move in a brand new front in the Trump-Russia investigation.