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MARIA BUTINA'S CASE

US Department of State says Butina will arrive in Moscow on October 26 — ambassador

Russian national Maria Butina's prison sentence ends on October 25

Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov Valery Sharifulin/TASS

Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov

© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

WASHINGTON, October 25. /TASS/. The US Department of State said that Russian national Maria Butina will be deported from Miami in Florida on Friday and will arrive in Moscow on Saturday morning, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said on Thursday.

Read also

US authorities launch deportation proceedings for Russian national Butina

"After repeated requests by the embassy to clarify the procedure of Butina's return to Russia, the Department of State gave us a final answer. On October 25, Maria will be transferred from the Tallahassee federal prison (Florida) to a migration center in the city of Miami, from where she will fly to Moscow on the same day. Arrival is in the morning on October 26. This is all the information we can share at this moment," Antonov said.

He also expressed hope that this will be "the end of the hardest stage in the Russian national's life." "We wish her soonest reunion with her family and friends, recuperating after the hard trials that befell her," the Russian ambassador noted. "The embassy's work on defending the rights of Russians who found themselves in US prisons, will continue. We will strive to return home all Russian citizens who were unfairly sentenced to prison," he added.

Maria Butina was arrested in Washington on July 15, 2018 - ahead of a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump in Helsinki. She was charged with participation in a collusion for carrying out activity on US territory to benefit a foreign state. American intelligence services stated that the Russian citizen carried out this activity without being registered as an agent of a foreign state with the Department of Justice. On April 26, Butina was sentenced to 1.5 years in prison. Moscow stated that the charges were fabricated and demanded that she be released from custody.

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Maria Butina's case

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