Mark Story, a spokesman for the university, said he could not comment on Butina’s case but said generally that “education, service and integrity are at the heart of who we are at American University.” for school from, like, rural Pennsylvania and you find out a couple months later you’re sitting next to a Russian spy?” “It’s sort of disbelief,” said one person who knew Butina at AU, describing the campus reaction. Wouldn’t a Russian agent have been more covert, many at the school now wonder, and have worked to keep her Kremlin advocacy under wraps? She bragged to classmates that she had worked for the Russian government.īutina’s arrest last week on charges that she was acting as an unregistered Russian agent and allegations that she has ties to Russian intelligence rattled those who knew her at American University, where she spent two years in the global security program at the School of International Service. ![]() She would buy friends rounds of vodka at Russia House, the Dupont Circle restaurant popular with the Russian diplomatic set, sometimes challenging male friends to down horseradish-infused shots. There was also her almost zealous embrace of her homeland.īutina’s cellphone case was emblazoned with a famous photograph of Russian President Vladimir Putin riding shirtless on a horse. It wasn’t just the outspoken conservative politics of the auburn-haired Russian woman that drew the attention of other graduate students at American University. government and policy jobs, Maria Butina cut an unusual profile. WASHINGTON – On a campus full of ambitious students aiming to land influential U.S.
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