Moscow accuses U.S of forcing false confession from alleged Russian agent Maria Butina

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the United States on Wednesday of forcing Russian national Maria Butina to confess to what it described as the ridiculous charge that she was a Russian agent.

Butina pleaded guilty in a U.S. court on Thursday to a single conspiracy charge in a deal with prosecutors, and admitted to working with a top Russian official to infiltrate a powerful U.S. gun rights group and make inroads with American conservative activists and politicians as an agent for Moscow.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Andrew Osborn)