(((▪Why Did 'Russian Agent' Butina Meet With Obama's Fed, Treasury Officials In 2015?▪)))

Accused Russian spy Maria Butina had far more significant contacts in Washington than previously known - having taken part in April, 2015 meetings between a visiting Russian official and two senior officials at the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve, according to Reuters which sites people familiar with the meetings, as well as a report from a Washington think tank that arranged them.

The two officials were Stanley Fischer, Fed vice chairman at the time, and Nathan Sheets, who was then-Treasury undersecretary for international affairs.

Fischer, and Israeli-American economist, served as governor of the Bank of Israel from 2005 - 2013 before President Obama nominated him to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in January, 2014. He resigned in late October for personal reasons.

Sheets, head of Global Macro at Prudential, was formerly the Global Head of International Economics at Citigroup after having spent for 18 years at the Federal Reserve. He was nominated by Obama for his Treasury position in February, 2014.

In April, 2015, Fischer and Sheets met with Butina and Alexander Torshin - then the Russian Central Bank deputy governor, where they participated in separate meetings with Fischer and Sheets to discuss US-Russian economic relations during President Obama's administration.

Fischer, an in email to Reuters, confirmed he met with Torshin and his interpreter. While he could not recall details, Fischer said the conversation involved “the state of the Russian economy” and Torshin’s new role as deputy central bank governor.

“I recall Mr. Torshin mentioning, as an aside, that he planned to attend a meeting of the National Rifle Association, a fact that I considered irrelevant to our conversation,” Fischer wrote to Reuters. -Reuters

(((As a related aside, the recently immune Tony Podesta was paid $170,000 over a 6-month period ending September 2016 to (((>>>lobby against<<<))) sanctions handed down by the Obama administration over the 2014 annexation of Crimea, a relationship SunTrust bank would sever ties with Podesta over.)))

The meetings between Butina and the Obama-era officials were documented by the Center for the National Interest in a report seen by Reuters, which outlined its Russia-related activites between 2013 and 2015. It describes the meetings as helping bring together "leading figures from the financial institutions of the United States and Russia."

Butina, 29, was jailed on Wednesday without bail until she stands trial after Department of Justice argued that she has ties to Russian intelligence and is a flight risk. She has pleaded not guilty to charges that she acted as a foreign agent for Russia. cont…….

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-22/why-did-russian-agent-butina-meet-obamas-fed-treasury-officials-2015