MOSCOW, November 22. /TASS/. Russian national Maria Butina, who has recently been released form a US prison, on Friday asked for financial assistance to Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko serving a prison term in the United States to pay for his medical treatment.
Butina took part in a meeting of the international committee of the Russian State Duma lower parliament house that was dedicated to the issues of the protection of Russian nationals’ rights abroad. She noted that her release from the US prison had been rather an exception than a rule. "Regrettably, many people are still kept in US prisons, dozens of people," she said.
"I would like to ask you for help to a man who is in a very grave situation - Konstantin Yaroshenko, who has been kept prisoner in the United States for more than nine years. He is in a very serious health condition and his family has asked for financial assistance," she said.
No medical assistance is offered in American prisons, they even deny the most essential things," she stressed.
Butina, 30, was charged with conspiracy to act as a foreign agent in the United States. US special services argued that Butina had indulged in political lobbying without being registered at the Department of Justice. On December 13, 2018, Butina pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the US law governing foreign agents operating in the country and signed a plea bargain. On April 26, 2019, she was sentenced to 18 months in prison. On April 26, Butina was sentenced to 18 months in prison. The jail term incorporated the period she had spent in custody before trial. Moscow demanded her immediate release saying she had been convicted on fabricated charges. Butina's sentence ended on October 25. She was released from prison and deported to Russia.
Konstantin Yaroshenko was convicted in the United States in September 2011 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. The pilot was clandestinely transferred to the United States from Liberia, where he had been arrested in May 2010. Agents from the US Drug Enforcement Administration operating under cover allegedly exposed Yaroshenko’s criminal intention to transport a large batch of cocaine. He pleaded not guilty, condemning his arrest as a provocation and the whole case as an utter set-up.