Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday slammed the jailing of agent Maria Butina in the United States as "arbitrary", adding that he did not understand why she had been incarcerated.

"There is nothing we could accuse her of, but to make this case not look completely ridiculous, she was sentenced to 18 months in prison," he told journalists on the sidelines of a summit in Beijing.

Butina pleaded guilty in a Washington court on Friday to one count of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government without registering.

"It is in fact arbitrary," Putin said. "We don't understand why she was sentenced."

It made her the only Russian arrested and convicted in the three-year investigation of Moscow's interference in US politics.

The leader of a small Russian gun rights group, the 30-year-old used her ties to the National Rifle Association to build a network of powerful Republican contacts.

US prosecutors said she was sending back reports to a high-level Russian government official.

Moscow lashed out after the sentencing, calling the US accusations "totally invested" and the conviction a "shameful stain" on the US judicial system.

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US diplomat pleads guilty in China spying case
Washington (AFP) April 24, 2019
A former US diplomat pleaded guilty Wednesday to lying to investigators about money she received from Chinese intelligence agents in exchange for US documents, the Justice Department said. Candace Marie Claiborne, 63, was a Department of State office management specialist based in Beijing and Shanghai who became involved beginning in 2007 with two men the Justice Department said she knew were agents of China's Ministry of State Security. They gave her "tens of thousands" of dollars in cash and g ... read more