Former Fed vice chairman Stanley Fischer and Treasury international affairs undersecretary Nathan Sheets had contacts with Maria Butina
Officials from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury had contacts with alleged Russian agent Maria Butina as part of 2015 meetings with a visiting Russian official, according to a report by Reuters.
According to a report by the Center for the National Interest (CNI), the meetings were meant to help bring together leading figures from the financial institutions of the two countries.
CNI, a foreign policy think tank supportive of initiatives to improve US-Russia relations, documented the meetings in a report that covered its Russia-related efforts from 2013 to 2015.
Citing several sources familiar with the meetings, Reuters reported that the meetings involved Stanley Fischer, who then served as Fed vice chairman, and Nathan Sheets, then the undersecretary for international affairs at the Treasury.
The two meetings have not been previously reported, according to Reuters.
In April 2015, Butina went to the US with Alexander Torshin, who then served as deputy governor of the Russian Central Bank. In separate meetings with Fischer and Sheets, Butina and Torshin took part in discussions about the economic relations between the two countries during the administration of former President Barack Obama.
According to Reuters, CNI Executive Director Paul Saunders in December 2016 called on then President-elect Donald Trump to ease tensions with Russia.
In an email to Reuters, Fischer confirmed meeting with Torshin and an interpreter. Fischer said he was unable to recall whether Butina was the interpreter. However, he told Reuters that the discussion involved the state of the Russian economy and Torshin’s new role.
Sheets, who now works for asset management firm PGIM, declined to comment, according to a company spokesman.
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