Moscow says arrest of Russian ‘agent’ a bid to undermine Putin-Trump summit

Moscow slams the arrest in the United States of a Russian national for conspiring to influence US politics, saying it was intended to undermine the “positive results” of a summit between the US and Russian leaders.

“This happened with the obvious task of minimising the positive effect” of this week’s Helsinki summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US leader Donald Trump, foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova tells reporters.

Maria Butina was arrested in Washington on Sunday and appeared in court on Monday. She was charged with conspiring to act as an agent of Russia “by developing relationships with US persons and infiltrating organizations having influence in American politics.”

Trump has been accused of failing to stand up to the Russian leader over alleged meddling in the 2016 election in the United States, with many US critics calling him a “traitor.”

— AFP