WASHINGTON, November 11. /TASS/. Diplomats of the Russian embassy to Washington visited Maria Butina, a Russian woman arrested in the United States, on her 30th birthday, the embassy wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

"Members of Russia’s embassy to Washington visited Maria Butina today. Maria thanked everyone who wished her happy birthday," the tweet said.

"She has been held in US prison under trumped-up charges for four months. Maria remains steadfast and poised going through her ordeal," the embassy said.

"She faces bravely the blatant arbitrariness and fights to restore her good name," it said. ‘We will be providing Maria with any assistance she needs and will be seeking her soonest return to the Motherland," it pledged.

Butina case

The 29-year-old Maria Butina was arrested in Washington D.C. on July 15, on the eve of the Helsinki summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump. The Russian gun rights activist was charged with conspiracy for conducting activities in the interests of a foreign state. The investigators claim she engaged in these activities without registering as a foreign agent at the US Department of Justice.

The FBI said Butina entered the US in August 2016 on a student visa and took up studies at the American University. She received the master’s degree in international relations in May 2018, according to her lawyer.

Butina is a member of the board of the Russian public associations ‘The Right to Guns’. In this capacity, she attended the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington in February 2017 where President Donald Trump took part.

On July 21, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov underlined in his telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that US actions against Russian citizen Maria Butina were inadmissible.