Comment: Like many people who plead guilty in the US, she did so because the system there makes you plead guilty in exchange for 'leniency', not because she's actually 'guilty'. In Butina's case, they tortured a confession out of her.
She is the first Russian citizen convicted of crimes relating to the 2016 election, though her efforts to infiltrate Republican circles appeared to be separate from the Kremlin's sweeping election-meddling campaign detailed in special counsel Robert Mueller's report.
Comment: That's CNN's way of saying she had no connection with the Kremlin whatsoever.
The 30-year-old gun rights enthusiast has been incarcerated since her arrest in July and will receive credit for the nine months previously served. She will be deported to Russia after serving her sentence.
Comment: Take note, American 'gun rights enthusiasts': they're 'gunning' for you next.
"This was no simple misunderstanding by an overeager foreign student," Judge Tanya Chutkan said.
Chutkan said that Butina, who studied at American University in Washington, engaged in work on behalf of a Russian official that was "sophisticated" and "dangerous."
"The conduct was sophisticated and penetrated deep into political organizations," Chutkan said, siding with the government's sentencing recommendation and noting that Butina's actions took place as Russia was actively trying to interfere in the US democratic process.
Comment: Sophisticated and dangerous? Pul-eeeze. Butina enthusiastically documented her American experience all over social media. Pretty bad spycraft that. There's no allegation of espionage, there's no allegation of classified information, there's no allegation she was paying anyone off, and there's no allegation she was recruiting spies.
Butina spoke for five minutes at Friday's hearing, her voice at times breaking, as she expressed regret for her crime and asked for forgiveness.
"I deeply regret this crime," Butina said. "Ironically it has harmed my attempts to improve relationships between the two countries."
"I came to the US not under orders but with hope," Butina said. "I sought to build bridges between my motherland and the country that I grew to love."
"Never did I wish to hurt anyone," Butina said.
While prosecutors have admitted that Butina is not a spy in the traditional sense, they argued that her crime still could have jeopardized national security.
Comment: Hoping to improve US relations with Russia does jeopardize security, if you're a deep state warmonger.
Butina pleaded guilty in December to one count of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign official. She admitted to using her contacts in GOP political circles, in the National Rifle Association and at the National Prayer Breakfast to influence US relations with Russia.
Comment: It's called normal cultural exchange between countries/cultures.
As part of her plea deal, Butina has cooperated extensively with the government. A source familiar with the situation said she primarily provided information about her boyfriend, GOP political operative Paul Erickson, who was allegedly involved in her scheme.
So far, Erickson has not faced charges in DC. Erickson was indicted in February on wire fraud and money laundering charges in a separate case in South Dakota. He pleaded not guilty to the federal charges.
'I still hold a whisper in my heart to one day return'
Prosecutors Friday brought a former senior FBI counterintelligence official to court who was prepared to testify about how Butina's actions posed "serious potential harm to the US."
The official, Robert Anderson, did not speak at the hearing but Chutkan made multiple references to a sworn affidavit he had submitted as she weighed the gravity of Butina's dealings.
An assistant US attorney, Erik Kenerson, said Butina worked with a Russian official as a "conduit" to send information to the Russian government, and listed several examples that the defense had not disputed of her reports, including a list of potential US secretary of state nominees she had sent back.
Kenerson also described how Butina would organize dinners with influential Americans to practice and "adjust her pitch" to draw out useful information.
Comment: Impressive straw-grasping effort here. This is how Americans themselves set up their own house. But now because a Russian has adapted to US cultural norms and political practices, networking is suddenly 'illegal'.
Alfred Carry, one of Butina's attorneys, downplayed the significance of the dinners that Butina had organized.
"They were cultural exchanges" where people including artists and philanthropists gathered and "talked about peace," he said.
Comment: Evil, scheming, dirty Russian. How DARE she network in Washington, DC.
He said Butina, before her arrest, had planned to stay in the US and act as a "go-to consultant" on issues between the country and Russia.
In her statement to the court, Butina repeated those desires and said, "I still hold a whisper in my heart to one day return to this country, but I know this wish is only a dream."
Comment: During the Cold War, the West could blame an Iron Curtain for the USSR's isolation (even though, like today, Western leaders themselves first imposed it).
Today, the technocrats running the Western system have reconstituted this isolation, but because the Russian Federation is effectively as open as most countries, they have to scheme a LOT harder to make Russia (seem) isolated.
Butina is being punitively subjected to additional solitary prison-time despite the flimsiest of charges brought against her. She never made any secret of her activities. She was a gun 'enthusiast' who wanted to advocate for gun rights in her home country, so who better to talk to than the NRA?
Butina, in fact, was working to export the US gun lobby model to her home country, something that should - if Americans believe their own narratives - have been promoted, not punished.
Moralizing over her relationship with an older man is the height of hypocrisy, especially in an amoral place like Washington, DC. Her treatment while imprisoned was deplorable, and now she faces more of the same. Still, the US feels it can rub Russia's nose in it...
Butina made a tearful plea for leniency, and begs for mercy. The judge sentenced her anyway.
Her lawyer, Robert Driscoll, said that Butina was arrested and smeared for no other reason than her nationality: He appeared on RT today to voice his concern for his client, and the potential blow-back this precedent sets up for Americans caught up in copy-cat entrapment schemes abroad:
The Russian Foreign Ministry has issued a statement: Russia 'loses' to the US, again, but Truth, as usual, remains on Russia's side.