Maria Butina - US Detainee Funded by Russian Businessman
Russian citizen Maria Butina, detained in the United States, told US senators that she received financial support for her project to advocate the right to bear arms from Konstantin Nikolayev - a Russian businessman. The Washington Post newspaper said it had referenced its own source who had seen her testimony in the Senate.
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| Maria Butina - Russian citizen detained in the US. |
Earlier, Russian lawyer Robert Driscoll said that his client had been giving evidence in the Senate for several months to avoid suspicions about her contacts with the Americans. According to the newspaper, in April, Maria Butina, in her speech to the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that Mr. Nikolayev had funded the movement supporting the right to bear arms, which she represented.
The businessman's official representative confirmed that Nikolayev had been in contact with Butina from 2012 to 2014, when she launched an organization advocating the right to bear arms in Russia. He did not comment on financial support for the initiative.