OREANDA-NEWS. Russian woman Maria Butina, freed from an American prison, flew into her native Barnaul on Tuesday with her father Valery Butin, a Russian media correspondent reports. The plane with Butina, flying from the Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport, arrived at Barnaul Airport at 05:11 local time (01:11 Moscow time). At the airport they were met by relatives and friends. Butina thanked the journalists who congratulated her on her return to her homeland and without further comment went to the meeting.

Arriving in the United States to study Butin, she was arrested in Washington on July 15, 2018 - on the eve of the meeting between Russian and US Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Helsinki. Moscow characterized the charges against Butina as fabricated and demanded her release from custody.

On April 26, Butina was sentenced to 1.5 years in prison, taking into account the time that had already been served in custody and approximate behavior, the Russian woman was released on October 25. Immediately after that, the Immigration and Customs Service at the US Department of Homeland Security deported her to Russia.