Lavrov claims that Russian agent Butina was tortured in the US
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that the Russian spy Maria Butina, who was arrested in the US and later agreed to cooperate with the investigation, was subjected to “special methods of torture,” TASS reports.
“As far as I understand, the whole point of this deal with justice, which is a common practice in the US, is to bargain for an opportunity for freedom and to return home as soon as possible,” he said.
Lavrov said he “understands this woman,” because she “is in the most difficult of circumstances.”
“For many months she has been tortured in different ways. They made her walk in the middle of the night, forcibly interrupting her sleep, they put her in solitary confinement… and so much more,” he said.
In his opinion, this is how American prison personnel act to “break” the accused. However, Russia “will do everything” so that she returns to her homeland.
Earlier, it was reported that Butina pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy with the goal to harm the US interests. Therefore, the woman agreed to a deal with the investigation and gave up the court process.
Russian national Maria Butina, who is accused of conspiring to work as an agent of a foreign government without properly notifying US authorities, was detained on July 15th.
According to her indictment, she contacted the “famous Russian businessman” who had close ties with the Kremlin. The FBI identified a Russian official from the Central Bank board as the curator of her lobbying activities. Butina had worked before as an assistant to Aleksandr Torshin, the Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of Russia.
Konstantin Nikolayev is co-owner of the Globaltrans railway company. Forbes estimates his worth at $1.2 billion dollars.