From Russia with Spying & Sex: According to federal court filings Wednesday, accused Russian operative Maria Butina was living with an unnamed 56-year-old American (identified in documents as US Person 1) with whom she had a “personal relationship.” On Butina’s Facebook page she is seen with Paul Erickson, a South Dakota-based conservative political activist who is listed in public records as being 56 years old. Erickson may have thought he had a real girlfriend, but apparently, it was all part of the job for Butina. Documents seized by the FBI show she had “expressed disdain for continuing to cohabitate with “the American man.” Prosecutors suggested Butina must not have taken the relationship very seriously because on at least one occasion she had offered someone other than US Person 1 sex in exchange for a position within a special interest organization. Butina’s social media accounts show she frequented National Rifle Association (NRA) events, including a convention in May 2016 at which she met Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) also alleges that Butina worked “under the direction and control” of a senior Russian official who is not named in charging documents. Court papers say the Russian official acted as her handler and coached her through online messages. A month before the 2016 election, Butina allegedly wrote to her contact through a private Twitter message, saying: “Right now everything has to be quiet and careful.” On election night, she messaged the Russian official: “I’m going to sleep. It’s 3 a.m. here. I am ready for further orders.” The Russian official appears to be Alexander Torshin, a deputy governor of Russia’s Central Bank and a well-connected ex-Russian senator from President Putin’s political party. Torshin was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in April. Butina remains in jail, without bond.
Putin Tests NATO’s Resolve: Putin must have been feeling pretty saucy even before the start of his summit meeting with President Trump. According to the Estonian military, while flying from Moscow to Helsinki Monday morning, Putin’s presidential plane had entered NATO airspace without clearance over a portion of the Baltic Sea that is often the site of Russian military jet fly-bys. The violation lasted less than a minute, but as spokesman Roland Murof said Tuesday: (the instances) “go up when something political is going on,” suggesting that the incursions are intended to send a message. He added: “Events yesterday just showed on what level they were willing to carry this.”
The US’s NATO allies have already been rattled by Trump’s obvious hostility to the alliance, which he made even clearer at last week’s summit in Brussels. He doubled-down, in an interview taped after the Helsinki summit and broadcast this week on Fox News, telling Tucker Carlson that sending troops from the alliance to defend an “aggressive” Montenegro could result in World War III. That tiny country had accused Russia of coup attempts over its joining NATO a year ago. Article 5 of the alliance calls for NATO members to come to the aid of allies under attack, and Trump may have been signaling he may not want to comply with that.
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