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More US politicians understand absurdity of charges against Butina — embassy

Russian national Maria Butina's prison sentence ended on October 25
The Russian Embassy in Washington, DC EPA-EFE/SHAWN THEW
The Russian Embassy in Washington, DC
© EPA-EFE/SHAWN THEW

WASHINGTON, October 26. /TASS/. More and more politicians in the United States recognize the absurdity of accusations leveled against Russian national Maria Butina who was released from prison on Friday after serving 1.5 years, the Russian Embassy in Washington said on Friday.

"Maria Butina is headed home. We wish her soonest reunion with her family and friends, recuperation after the uneasy trials that befell her. It is important that more and more US politicians start to realize the absurdity of accusations leveled against her," the embassy said.

Butina's lawyer Robert Driscoll told TASS earlier that she will arrive in Moscow at around noon on Saturday on an Aeroflot flight.

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.

Butina's sentence ended on Friday, October 25. She was released from prison and taken under the supervision of the US immigration authorities.