This week Butina admitted she wasn't just a student and Russian gun rights activist, pleading guilty to a count of conspiring to act as a foreign agent. NPR's Scott Simon talks with her lawyer.
Alexeyeva, who died Saturday, was a longtime Kremlin critic who lived in exile for 16 years during the Soviet era. President Vladimir Putin tried to co-opt her legacy during her lifetime.
It's not by chance that the countries' 4 1/2-year conflict has taken on a naval dimension. Moscow is further imposing on Kiev its annexation of Crimea.
Russia's military already has three of the S-400 "Triumf" divisions on the Black Sea peninsula; it plans to have another in place and operational by the year's end.
The countries are trading blame over a maritime dispute in which Russia fired on Ukrainian vessels, injuring some sailors. The incident has sparked Ukrainian protests and an international backlash.
"Normal people collect stamps and I try to give my cheese to Putin," says cheesemaker David Sirota. "I know 100 ways to get into an event with Putin but every time, his security takes away my cheese."