The head of Britain's foreign intelligence agency has thanked Russian state television for encouraging Russians to spy for the U.K. after it broadcast part of a speech he gave calling on Russians to join hands with British intelligence.

Ghislaine Maxwell is off to Florida to serve a 20-year prison sentence for helping financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls.

Some Russian prisons might be mistaken for vacation destinations based on their nicknames, which include animal appellations such as the Black Dolphin and the Polar Owl.

Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has lost a substantial amount of weight in custody, his organization says.

Maria Butina, a Russian citizen convicted of acting as a foreign agent in the United States, has landed in Moscow a day after she was released from a federal prison in Florida and deported. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison earlier this year and has been in custody since her arrest on July 15, 2018. Asked about the potential diplomatic ramifications of her case, Butina was more cautious. But some Russia experts said it appeared Whelan may have been picked up as retribution for the charges against Butina. Judge Tanya Chutkan, who sentenced Butina earlier this year, said she engaged in work on behalf of a Russian official that was both "sophisticated" and "dangerous."

CNN Video(CNN) - Russian gun rights enthusiast Maria Butina was released from the Tallahassee Federal Correction Institution on Friday after having served more than 15 months behind bars, according to the US Federal Bureau of Prisons, and is expected to be immediately deported to Moscow. Butina was sentenced to 18 months in prison earlier this year and has been in custody since her arrest on July 15, 2018. Asked about the potential diplomatic ramifications of her case, Butina was more cautious. But some Russia experts said it appeared Whelan may have been picked up as retribution for the charges against Butina. Judge Tanya Chutkan, who sentenced Butina earlier this year, said she engaged in work on behalf of a Russian official that was both "sophisticated" and "dangerous."

Much of the report focuses on a December 2015 trip to Moscow arranged by Butina and former NRA president and board member David Keene. The trip's attendees included top NRA officials, such as Keene, Brownell and Joe Gregory, who runs a high-dollar NRA fundraising program. "He went to support the NRA as the incoming President, and would not have gone if it was not an NRA trip. But when a key NRA official canceled ahead of the trip, other NRA leaders got a glimpse into the motives Russian officials had for cozying up to the NRA. During the planning, Allan Cors, who was then serving as NRA president, dropped out of the Moscow junket.

Andrea Thompson is leaving as the Trump administration continues to seek a major nuclear deal with Russia and China after the collapse of the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Thompson's departure in a statement on Friday. There are concerns from officials within the Trump administration and from members of Congress about Thompson being the primary US interlocutor with the Russians. Butina, who was convicted of crimes relating to promoting Russian interests during the 2016 election, attended Thompson's wedding, two sources told CNN. Thompson will be leaving a pivotal post vacant at the State Department while the White House is conducting intense interagency talks to develop options for Trump to pursue a new nuclear pact.

It has not been verified by the agencies, and spokespeople for the Justice Department and FBI declined to comment. A US official told CNN on Thursday that Byrne met earlier this year with Justice Department officials and shared with them similar information about a romantic relationship with Butina encouraged by the FBI. 'We are the good guys, we don't work like the bad guys, but we need to ask you to rekindle a romantic relationship with Maria Butina.' But she said she was skeptical about his claim that the bureau later encouraged him to have a "romantic relationship" with Butina. But if the FBI had asked him to have a romantic relationship, "that to me seems incredibly suspect only because there is a lot of legal liability that's involved with that.