Alleged Russian agent Maria Butina to be sentenced in US on April 26

WASHINGTON - Maria Butina, the Russian woman who pleaded guilty last year to working as a clandestine agent in the United States, will be sentenced in late April, a US federal judge said Thursday.

Judge Tanya Chutkan, of the US district court in Washington, D.C., set sentencing on April 26 for Butina, who was charged last year with acting as an agent of Moscow to infiltrate and influence US politics.

Butina, 30, accepted a deal with prosecutors in December, pleading guilty to conspiring with an alleged Russian government official and an American to infiltrate GOP political groups like the National Rifle Association and take advantage of those connections to interfere with the nation's political system.

Butina, who faces up to five years in prison, agreed to cooperate with federal investigations, as part of the deal.

The charges against Butina were brought by the US attorney's office in D.C., not the office of special counsel Robert Mueller, who wrapped up last week his nearly two-year investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

According to a brief summary of Mueller's findings made public by Attorney General William Barr, there was no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Russia has denied any meddling.

Mueller's team briefly questioned Butina in January, but she did not appear to be central to the investigation, according to CNN.