- The Biden administration sanctioned Russian politicians who support the invasion of Ukraine.
- Among the targets was Maria Butina, who was charged in 2018 with acting as a "foreign agent."
- Butina pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge and served 15 months in prison before returning to Russia.
Maria Butina, a Russian woman convicted of acting as an unregistered foreign agent before and after the 2016 election, is among the hundreds of Russian lawmakers facing new sanctions from the Biden administration.
Butina made headlines when she was charged in 2018 with scheming to infiltrate powerful conservative circles, including the National Rifle Association, to influence US policy in Russia's favor.
In 2019, Butina pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as an unregistered foreign agent in her attempts to forge ties with influential conservatives and gun rights activists.
She served 15 months in prison before returning to Russia, where she joined the Duma, the country's lower house of parliament. On Thursday, the Treasury Department targeted her and 327 other members of the Duma to be sanctioned for supporting Russia's month-long war against Ukraine.
At her sentencing in 2019, Judge Tanya Chutkan noted that Butina came to the United States as a graduate student at American University but was "not simply seeking to learn about the US political system."
Chutkan described Butina's scheme as "sophisticated" and noted that it coincided with Russia's interference in US elections.
In a New York Times interview last year, Butina insisted that she "wasn't a spy" for Russia and that her Duma seat was not a "reward."
In addition to Russian lawmakers, dozens of defense companies and the CEO of its largest financial institution Sberbank are being targeted by the sanctions.
"The United States, with our partners and allies, is striking at the heart of Russia's ability to finance and carry out its warfare and atrocities against Ukraine, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen said in the statement.
She added: "The Russian State Duma continues to support Putin's invasion, stifle the free flow of information, and infringe on the basic rights of the citizens of Russia. We call on those closest to Putin to cease and condemn this cold-blooded war."