Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had no prior knowledge of Butina . Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov made a statement saying that Butina 's arrest was designed to undermine the " positive results " of the Helsinki summit between U.S. President Trump and Russian President Putin . She was arrested a day before Trump met his Russian counterpart . Butina 's father has called the accusations against her " a witch-hunt "
Helsinki summit
2018 Russia–United States summit
Maria Butina