Maria Butina wore a “foreign agent” T-shirt to promote her new gig as a Russian state television host.
Butina, who was not charged with espionage but pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as a foreign agent by infiltrating a gun rights group and cultivating relationships with conservative politicians, was deported in October after an 18-month prison sentence.
“Well, I’m home now,” Butina said in a promotional clip for the show Wonderful Russia Bu Bu Bu, according to Reuters.
The show’s name mocks the slogan “Wonderful Russia of the future” of prominent Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. “Bu bu bu” roughly translates to “blah blah blah,” but “bu” is also the beginning of the Russian word for future.
Butina, 31, is following in the footsteps of Russian spy Anna Chapman, who was part of a group of 10 Russian sleeper agents living in the United States without diplomatic cover who were deported from the U.S. in 2010.
Chapman, 37, has worked as a television presenter on Russia’s privately owned Ren TV channel since returning to the country as part of a spy swap.
Last month, Russia’s human rights commissioner gave Butina a job to defend Russians who have been imprisoned abroad.
