MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th August, 2018) Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in phone talks with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday urged the US authorities to immediately stop the persecution of Russian national Maria Butina, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"The Russian minister called for an immediate end to the persecution of Russian citizen Butina under the far-fetched pretext, and once again drew attention to the situation with Konstantin Yaroshenko, Viktor Bout and other Russians who are kept in US prisons in violation of the procedures stipulated by the bilateral 1999 Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters," the ministry said on its website.
Butina was arrested in Washington, DC, in mid-July on suspicion of acting as an agent for the foreign government. She has denied the accusations. Last week, she was transferred to a prison in the US city of Alexandria, Virginia. She faces up to 15 years in jail.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has called the situation unacceptable. The Russian Embassy in the United States stressed that the young woman was experiencing psychological pressure in prison, including frequent nighttime checks, strip checks and inadequate medical care.
Butina, 29, is a student from Russia, who has recently graduated from American University in Washington DC with a Masters Degree in International Relations. Russia has strongly criticized the US government for detaining Butina, and has characterized the charges against her as "clearly groundless."
