A Russian gun-rights activist has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after admitting she was a secret agent for the Kremlin who tried to infiltrate conservative U.S. political groups as Donald Trump rose to power.
Maria Butina has already served nine months.
In December, she pleaded guilty to a single charge of conspiracy to act as an unregistered foreign agent and agreed to cooperate with investigators as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors.
Butina admitted that she and former Russian lawmaker Alexander Torshin used their contacts in the National Rifle Association to pursue back channels to American conservatives during the 2016 campaign, when Trump, a Republican, defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.
The charges against Butina were brought by federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., and her case is unrelated to special counsel Robert Mueller鈥檚 investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Butina faced a maximum sentence of five years in prison. She has been jailed since her arrest in July.
The Associated Press and 草莓传媒’s J.J. Green contributed to this report.
