Mariia Butina’s attorney insists the get-together was nothing more than one dinner with a prominent Russian official.
Accused Russian sleeper agent Mariia Butina met in January with the head of a Russian government-affiliated cultural center that authorities have long suspected of being a front for recruiting young American spies.
Authorities believe the meeting with Oleg Zhiganov, the longtime director of the Russian Cultural Centre, was one of several pieces of evidence that Butina was a flight risk, and a judge recently agreed. But Butina’s attorney insists the get-together was nothing more than a nice dinner out between two Russian expatriates who had met a few times at the embassy, where Zhiganov serves as first secretary.
“As far as I know, they went out to dinner that one time,” Butina’s defense attorney, Robert Driscoll, told POLITICO. “And she might have known him from events at the embassy.”
Zhiganov’s identity, previously unreported, was confirmed to POLITICO on Friday by a source familiar with the investigation.
The revelation is just the latest twist in an ever-expanding backstory of Butina, who U.S. officials have charged with working from 2015 until at least February 2017 as a covert Kremlin agent under the direction of a top Russian government official and central banker. Butina’s efforts allegedly included offering sex in exchange for a job at an unnamed U.S. special-interest organization, and infiltrating the National Rifle Association and other influential conservative political organizations to push them toward more pro-Russia policies.
She has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing. Driscoll described her as a foreign student who wanted to make friends, just like hundreds of others attending American University.
In court filings, authorities have refused to disclose Zhiganov’s identity, or to reveal any details of his relationship with Butina or why they believe he was using his Russian government position as a cover for spying, citing at least one and potentially more ongoing investigations. They even introduced into evidence a photo of a very serious looking Butina listening intently to her dinner companion, but blacked out his face.
Zhiganov’s cultural center, which sits just a mile and a half from the White House, is officially part of the Russian Foreign Ministry, hosting a series of public events that often feature visiting Russian artists and musicians in an effort to foster better understanding and relations between the two countries.
But the organization has for years been under scrutiny by U.S. counterintelligence officials concerned about its suspected involvement in espionage. One former director of the cultural center left the country in 2014 after media reports disclosed that the FBI was investigating him for being a spy, and sending hundreds of early-career Americans on center-sponsored free trips to Russia where they are targeted for recruitment.
Butina, who was charged last week with acting as an unregistered Russian agent in the U.S., met with Zhiganov after he called and invited her to dinner, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation and prosecution. And when the two met up, federal agents were watching — and snapping surveillance photos.
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Accused Russian agent met with suspected Kremlin spy https://t.co/KOwaLcrfsT
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