Moscow says it will help Russian despite her guilty plea

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian officials say Moscow will continue to support a Russian woman in custody in the United States who has pleaded guilty to acting as a covert agent of the Russian government, even though it rejects that claim.
Maria Butina on Thursday pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge for trying to infiltrate conservative political groups in the U.S., as part of a deal with federal prosecutors.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Russian news agencies on Friday that he &ldquo