Local group had contacts with accused Russian spy

SEATTLE — Russian gun-rights activist Maria Butina, now in jail accused of failing to register as a foreign agent, once had contact with an American gun-rights group based in Bellevue. In 2013, she invited the head of the Second Amendment Foundation to a gun-rights conference in Moscow.

Interviewed in his Bellevue office, SAF founder Alan Gottlieb told us Butina reached out to him in 2012, when he was setting up an international group to fight a United Nations treaty on the gun trade.

The next year, Butina invited Gottlieb and his wife to her gun-rights conference in Moscow. Gottlieb says they paid their own way.

Scroll down to continue reading

More news from KIRO 7

• Seattle police make lip sync video to Macklemore song 'Downtown'
• WATCH: Redmond police release lip sync challenge video 
• Dangerous plant that causes third-degree burns found near West Seattle home
• 2 injured in plane crash in Pierce County
• Kent babysitter arrested after assaulting baby in her care

DOWNLOAD OUR FREE NEWS APP

​
In court documents, she's described as using sex to gain influence. Said Gottlieb: "She definitely was a little bit flirtatious with people. There's no doubt she liked to flirt. I don't know about any of those charges."

Gottlieb says Butina is a life member of the National Rifle Association. Federal authorities are investigating whether Russians were funneling political money through the NRA.

Gottlieb told us his Second Amendment Foundation got no money from the Russians.

"There was no attempt to recruit us in some way at all. There was no attempt to infiltrate; she didn't care about connections or meeting people or asking favors.

Gottlieb says he worked for gun rights in Russia without being jailed, so he doesn't understand why Butina is being held without bail in America for failing to register as a foreign agent. 

"No one's saying she did anything illegal or wrong besides just not registering. That seems kind of severe to me. And I don't quite understand that, and I think our government has some things they do need to answer for this."

Gottlieb has gotten a lot of media calls since his connection has come to light, but none from the FBI.

Gottlieb said, he'd "love to" speak with the FBI.

Butina has pleaded not guilty in federal court.

Cox Media Group