MOSCOW, July 18. /TASS/. US intelligence services are openly working against their country’s president, Donald Trump, and are meddling with political process instead of establishing cooperation in the fight against international terrorism, former chief of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and now member of the Russian State Duma lower parliament house, Nikolai Kovalev said on Tuesday, commenting on the situation with the arrest of Russian national Maria Butina in the US on charges of spying for Russia.

On Monday, the US Department of Justice said Russian citizen Maria Butina, 29, had been arrested in Washington, DC on charges of acting as an unregistered agent of the Russian government. She faces up to five years in prison if found guilty by a court. Butina’s lawyer said she was not a Russian agent.

"It is absolutely evident that US special services are working against their president. They are seeking to interfere in any way possible into the political process, a thing that must not be done by any special (intelligence) service," Kovalev said, adding that US intelligence establishment "is taking deliberate steps to hinder development of normal relations between the two countries (the United States and Russia - TASS)."

"It is very regrettable," he noted. "They’d better think about how to organize cooperation in the sphere of counter-terrorist actions."

Commenting on the situation with Maria Butina, the lawmaker noted that like the United Kingdom, the United States is becoming a dangerous country for Russian nationals. "Practically anyone can be accused of anything, so, any commercial activity carried out by Russians in the United States may be presented as the use of personal contacts in Russia’s interests. It is utter nonsense," he stressed. "She was denied the possibility to explain her actions. Instead, they opted to arrest her on the very day of the Putin-Trump meeting."
He zeroed in on the fact that Butina is a gun rights activist and came to the United States to study its guns laws to later try to introduce them in Russia. He cited her article where she claimed she had sought to infiltrate Russian political structures to try to influence decision-making. "It means she wanted to spread US laws into Russia," Kovalev said. "So, the real question is: whose agent is she - Russia’s or America’s?"