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Date of US court hearings on Butina’s house arrest not set yet — attorney

Maria Butina, 29, was arrested in Washington DC on July 15

WASHINGTON, August 25. /TASS/. The date of court hearings on placing under house arrest Russian citizen Maria Butina, who is now being kept in a US jail, are yet to be set, her attorney Robert Driscoll told TASS on Friday.

Butina’s defense insists that she be placed under house arrest with electronic monitoring of her whereabouts.

Besides, Driscoll said the US authorities have not yet explained him the reasons behind Butina’s transfer to another prison.

Maria Butina, 29, was arrested in Washington DC on July 15. The Russian gun rights activist faces charges of conspiracy for conducting activities in the interests of a foreign state. According to the US Department of Justice, she is suspected of acting "as an agent of Russia inside the United States by developing relationships with US persons and infiltrating organizations having influence in American politics, for the purpose of advancing the interests of the Russian Federation." The next court hearing in Butina’s case is scheduled for September 10.

In a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on July 21, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov demanded Butina’s early release from custody stressing that charges against her were trumped-up. For her part, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow would continue work to protect Butina’s rights and legitimate interests.