Russian National Arrested in US on False Charges
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)
Imperial Ziofascist lawlessness defines how America operates. So does serving its privileged class exclusively and enforcing police state harshness.
All of the above and much more show democracy in America is pure fantasy, not the real thing - bipartisan rogue governance by any standard, humanity’s greatest threat.
On July 14, ahead of July 16 Putin/Trump summit talks, the day after 12 Russian nationals were indicted for US election meddling they had nothing to do with, Russian national Mariia Butina was falsely charged with involvement in (nonexistent) Kremlin efforts to influence US politics - claiming she’s a Russian agent despite no evidence proving it.
Where does it end? How many more Russians will be falsely charged for offenses they didn’t commit - political accusations, not legitimate ones.
Russian nationals back home are safe from US injustice. They won’t ever be extradited to America on false charges. Butina, a Russian citizen, was arrested in Washington, ordered held without bond.
FBI Special Agent Kevin Helson claimed without justification that she attempted to “establish a ‘back channel’ communication for representatives of the Government of Russia” - to “develop, maintain, and exploit a relationship to furtherance of the conspiracy” to promote Russian interests in the US, according o charges against her, adding:
“Butina worked at the direction of a high-level official in the Russian government who was previously a member of the legislature of the Russian Federation and later became a top official at the Russian Central Bank.”
“This Russian official was sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control in April 2018.”
Butina “undertook her activities without officially disclosing the fact that she was acting as an agent of Russian government.”
Her lawyer Robert Driscoll denied the charge, saying she “is not an agent of the Russian Federation. She is a Russian national in the United States on a student visa who recently graduated from American University in Washington, DC with a Masters Degree in International Relations and 4.0 grade point average.”
“She has received her work permit and is seeking to use her degree to pursue a career in business. The substance of the charge in the complaint is overblown.”
“While styled as some sort of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agent Registration Act, in actuality it describes a conspiracy to have a ‘friendship dinner’’ at Bistro Bis with a group of Americans and Russians to discuss foreign relations between the two countries.”
She’s a deep state “scapegoat,” guilty of no crimes, invented ones only for political reasons.
Dark forces in Washington are going all-out to undermine improved US/Russian relations.
Whatever Trump may try doing to foster good relations with Russia and Vladimir Putin, he’s no match against US hardliners wanting adversarial relations maintained.
That’s how imperialism works, enemies needed to sustain it. When none exist, they’re invented. Russia is the US deep state’s leading one of choice - Butina its latest victim.
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