Former Bank of Israel head reportedly met with accused Russian agent

Stanley Fischer said to have sat down with Maria Butina, who was indicted last week, when he was vice chairman of the US Federal Reserve

Former Bank of Israel head Stanley Fischer reportedly met with suspected Russian agent Maria Butina while he served as the vice chairman of the US Federal Reserve.

The meeting with Butina, who was in the US to lobby for gun rights, took place in 2015 and was arranged by the Center for the National Interest, a Washington think tank founded by former US president Richard Nixon and headed by Moscow-born Dimitri K. Simes, according to a Reuters report Sunday.

Butina also reportedly met with Nathan Sheets, then Treasury undersecretary for international affairs.

The meetings were listed in a Center for the National Interest report, which described them as helping bring together “leading figures from the financial institutions of the United States and Russia.”

Butina’s lawyer Robert Driscoll told Reuters he had no details about the details of the meetings.

Fischer confirmed to Reuters that he met with Alexander Torshin, then the Russian Central Bank deputy governor and his interpreter. He could not recall whether Butina attended the meeting. He told the news outlet that the conversation involved “the state of the Russian economy” and Torshin’s new role.

A person speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed the meeting to Reuters, saying it took place on April 7, 2015, and said that Butina was present.

Butina was charged last week in Washington with acting illegally as an unregistered agent for the Russian government while she lived in Washington over the past three years with her boyfriend, a veteran Republican operative.

Her arrest last Sunday added to the political turmoil in Washington over Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election and allegations that US President Donald Trump’s campaign collaborated with the Russians.

The arrest was announced Monday hours after Trump finished a summit and a press conference with Putin in Helsinki, Finland, where the US leader rejected the US intelligence community’s verdict that the Russians interfered to support him over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 race.

Trump reversed that stance a day later under heavy attack from US politicians of both parties.

Fischer, a dual US-Israeli national born in southern Africa, served as the governor of Israel’s central bank from 2005 until 2013, stepping down midway through his second term.

During his tenure Israel received top international ratings and his policies were credited with helping the country largely avoid the 2007-2008 global financial crisis.

He became a member of the Fed’s Board of Governors in May 2014 but stepped down last year citing personal reasons.