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"When I was arrested for the first time and put into a big black van, it all felt like a movie - a bad, ridiculous Hollywood blockbuster," she said.

Butina denied being a spy and insisted she just was a foreign student making friends. There was zero proof to the contrary and the charges were "bogus," she said. On top of that, the gun activist explained, the prosecution did not even bother to properly translate her tweets."The translation was completely horrendous. The phrase 'tech bordering on fantasy' was translated into English as 'secret equipment.'"You cannot translate it that way!"

The FBI questioned Butina for 52 hours, but according to her, the whole interrogation was "absolutely pointless." From the start, she said that she had no ties with the Russian government and the agents "quickly ran out of questions."

The activist said the FBI kept asking the same things about her activities over and over again because "they just couldn't believe that people can do good things for no special reason, simply because they believe in friendship between the countries and strive for people's right for self-protection." The lengthy interrogation was just for show, to make it look like the investigators "were doing something serious," while they had nothing.

"The worst thing is the US Marshals Services where they humiliate you; forbid you from going to the toilet for 16 hours; deny you water or food," Butina said as she talked to RT and Sputnik news agency on a plane that was taking her from the US back to Moscow. After that a low-security prison in Tallahassee, Florida seemed like "paradise" for her as she was allowed to go for walks and got a lot better rations.

"I was just a stack of bones," she recalled, but daily jogging and other exercises helped a lot. "I had problems with my memory, but it returned to me. My eyesight also improved."

Butina recalled that just one day before she was to be released, a guard, who became unhappy with how the prisoners were executing their duties in the kitchen, warned them: "If you will do that again I will f**k each and every one of you."

When a guard is cursing at you in the most obscene words possible... It just shouldn't be like that. We're women after all.

At first, the relations with fellow inmates were "tense" after she was transferred from Alexandria to a correctional facility in Tallahassee because "everybody watched the news" where she was portrayed as a villain, the 30-year-old recalled.

But that changed quickly when people got to know her. The activist said that a newspaper article in her defense was also passed on inside the prison and after some time "even some guards were telling me: 'It seems that they lied to us on this one.'"

"We had good relations with the other inmates," Butina said, also adding that many in prison simply called her "Russia," instead of using her real name.

The activist worked in the kitchen in Tallahassee and also volunteered as a math teacher, training inmates for the GED exam. She said she was proud that all of her students passed.

The US justice system is "very generous" at handing out sentences as "people remain in prison for a long time over the smallest violations. They are just taking their lives away from the girls. No correction is happening, while behind bars."

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Syrian Army forces have moved from Qamishli, the capital of the de-facto Kurdish autonomous territory known as Rojava, into the surrounding countryside, receiving a warm welcome from local residents. Footage of troops waving Syrian national flags, chanting and gesturing the victory sign:

According to SANA's correspondent, the forces entered the village of Umm al-Keif in Hasaka province. The Army was said to have expanded its deployments across the northeastern Syrian region to protect local residents from possible attacks. Russian military police have been deployed to the city of Qamishli proper, and that they were engaged in peacekeeping patrols there. Footage of Russian units:

Footage shows city residents pelting withdrawing US forces with tomatoes and shouting "America liar" and chanting "America is running away" in Arabic.

Ankara will resume operations in Syria against Kurdish forces if they remain inside the 20-mile security zone agreed with Russia, Turkish leader Tayyip Erdogan said.

"We agreed with Russia, but if after 150 hours the terrorists remain in the agreed zone, then we will continue to do what we should, we will take control of the zone and clean it ourselves. We will not sit down at the negotiating table with the terrorists."

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