FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE FOR THE NRA
FOR MORE THAN a year, reports have trickled out about the ties between the National Rifle Association, conservative Republicans, Russian gun rights activists—and the Trump campaign.
Many of the stories center around a middle-aged Russian central bank official and a young gun activist from Siberia whose social-media accounts document their shared interests: posing with assault rifles, attending NRA conventions, and making connections with Republican lawmakers and presidential candidates. Alexander Torshin, a former Russian senator and longtime ally of Vladimir Putin, has been accused of having ties to the Russian mob (which he denies). His protégée and former assistant, Maria Butina, founded a Russian gun rights group and has reportedly bragged about her connections to the Trump campaign.
In the lead-up to the 2016 election, the two tried to connect with the Trump campaign and its allies. In 2015, Butina publicly asked Donald Trump what he would do about the “damaging” US sanctions against Russia. Torshin reportedly made overtures to Trump and met with Donald Trump Jr. at the 2016 NRA convention. A day after Trump was elected, Torshin tweeted, “Today in NRA (USA) I know only 2 people from the Russian Federation with the status of ‘Life Member’: Maria Butina and I.”
In recent months, the House Intelligence Committee has heard sworn testimony about possible Kremlin “infiltration” of the NRA and other conservative groups before the 2016 election. And the FBI reportedly is investigating whether Torshin illegally funneled money to the NRA to support its unprecedented $30 million effort to elect Trump.
Do this duo’s tweets and travels represent anything more than a charm offensive by well-connected Russian gun enthusiasts? Torshin, Butina, the NRA, and the Trump administration did not respond to requests for comment, but a close examination of the movements and intersections
