Kremlin: allegations against accused Russian agent Butina groundless

Reuters

14 December 2018 at 5:17 am

FILE PHOTO: Maria Butina appears in a police booking photograph released by the Alexandria Sheriff's Office in Alexandria, Virginia, U.S. August 18, 2018. Alexandria Sheriff's Office/Handout via REUTERS

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Friday that allegations against Maria Butina, a Russian woman accused of acting as an agent of Russia's government in the United States, were absolutely groundless.

"We repeat, all allegations against her we consider to be absolutely groundless," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call.

Butina pleaded guilty in a U.S. court on Thursday to a single conspiracy charge in a deal with prosecutors, and admitted to working with a top Russian official to infiltrate a powerful U.S. gun rights group and make inroads with American conservative activists and politicians as an agent for Moscow.

(Reporting by Tom Balmforth; Writing by Polina Ivanova; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

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