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Russian agent Maria Butina, who was released from a Florida jail on her arrival at Sheremetyevo International Airport, near Moscow, on October 26, 2019. REUTERS / Tatyana Makeyeva

Russia welcomed on Saturday morning 26 October with great fan Maria Butina. She had been sentenced in the United States as part of the investigation into Russian interference during the last presidential campaign. The young woman was released Friday after a year and a half spent behind bars.

With our correspondent in Moscow, Leo Vidal

The spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Ministry on the tarmac, her parents to welcome him at the airport and a host of cameras, the host committee was less modest for the return of Maria Butina than during the release this been Russian agents captured in Ukraine. No doubt it is because in this case, Russia has always denied that the young woman was a spy.

Arrested in June 2018 in the United States , Maria Butina was in the country on a study visa. Previously in Russia, she had actively campaigned for the legalization of the carrying of arms, had engaged in politics to become the assistant of a Russian senator. Then in the United States, she got closer to the National Rifle Association (NRA), the powerful pro-gun lobby in the United States. That's what the FBI was criticizing him for.

In this position, it would have favored the rapprochement of elected Republicans with his political contacts in Russia. An activity prohibited and assimilated to espionage.

Maria Butina claimed her innocence, but agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a reduced sentence. In April 2019 she was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Moscow had denounced a " medieval inquisition ".

When she arrived in Moscow, she complained of ill-treatment in prison and did not rule out giving judicial follow-up.