Sentence handed down to Butina in U.S. 'outrage' - Putin
BEIJING. April 27 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the sentence of 18 months of imprisonment handed down to Russian citizen Maria Butina in the United States as an outrage.
"The Russian Foreign Ministry has already commented on Butina's 18-month-long sentence. I believe, it says that there, in the Foreign Ministry's commentary, that it is an outrage. It is indeed. It is unclear why she was convicted, what crime she committed," Putin said at a press conference in Beijing.
This is the case of "saving face" or "the fight for honor of the rank," he said.
"They got, grabbed and threw the girl behind the bars, but there's nothing to charge her with. Yes, nothing to charge her with. But they sentenced her to 18 months so it would not look completely nonsensical, to show that she is guilty of something," the president said.