Butina, who was elected to the state Duma in Russia and subjected to U.S. sanctions after Russia's Ukraine invasion, said Reade made her decision on a visit to Moscow.

'I'm still kind of in a daze a bit but I feel very good,' Reade said in an appearance aired on Sputnik. 'I feel very surrounded by protection and safety. And I just really so appreciate Maria [Butina] and everyone who's been giving me that at a time when it's been very difficult to know if I'm safe or not.' 

Biden assault accuser Tara Reade said she is defecting to Russia. She sat for an interview on Kremlin-backed Sputnik television with Maria Butina, who was convicted of acting as an unregistered foreign agent in the U.S.

She fielded questions from audience members during an appearance, where she bashed the U.S. position arming Ukraine following Russia's invasion. 

'It's very sad that America has chosen the wrong side in history,' she said, echoing Kremlin propaganda about the Ukrainian government.

She described her visit to Moscow as breaking impressions. 'The food tastes so good - there's no chemicals, there's no GMOs,' she said. 'I'm not just giving you a smoke screen.'

She said she wasn't sure she would go back to the U.S. even if Biden is replaced, although she expressed doubts he 'makes it to run again.'

'I'm not sure if the new president will change anything for me. I have lawyers working right now to figure out because some of the cases are sealed that are against me, so I don't know what they have in mind. But I do know this that unfortunately, the Democratic National Committee is quite corrupt. Unless that's dismantled and taken down. I'm not sure things will get better,' she said.

'I just didn't want to walk home and walk into a cage or be killed, which is basically my two choices,' she told Sputnik.

'To my Russian brothers and sisters, I'm sorry right now that American elites are choosing to have such an aggressive stance. Just know that most American citizens do want to be friends,' she said, the DailyBeast reported.

She also tore into U.S. defense contractors, and called the bombing of the Nordstream pipeline a 'war crime' that she suggested was carried out by the U.S. – echoing Kremlin claims. 

Butina said through a translator she would pursue 'people to people contacts' in Russia and experience Russian culture, and pledged to help her draft her applications to support her finding 'a way for Tara to stay here in Russia' that would go all the way to Russian President Vladimir Putin. She said she would help pursue a 'fast track procedure.' 

Reade during the 2020 presidential campaign accused Biden of having sexually assaulted her while he was a senator. Biden and his team denied the allegation. 

But after the allegations drew headlines, there were reports she 'left a trail of aggrieved acquaintances in California's Central Coast region who say they remember two things about her — she spoke favorably about her time working for Biden, and she left them feeling duped.'

That included a landlord who called her 'manipulative' and who said when then she and her husband wanted to sell the unit she was renting Reade, who went by a different name, told her ''You're going to have to pay me to get me to leave.' 

PBS interviewed 74 former Biden staffers after Reade leveled her allegations of sexual assault from the 1990s.

The New York Times reported in April 2020 that Reade, who had featured in reports from multiple women who said Biden engaged in kissing and hugging that made them uncomfortable, had alleged that Biden sexually assaulted her in 1993 in a Senate office building.

But it also reported that 'no other allegation about sexual assault surfaced in the course of reporting, nor did any former Biden staff members corroborate any details of Ms. Reade's allegation.'

She issued a cryptic tweet earlier this month after Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) invited her to testify. 'I want to make something clear. If something happens to me, all roads lead to Joe Biden. Joe Biden and DNC political machine threats, bullying and intimidation over the last three years will not work. I am not suicidal. I should not be under investigation nor am I a foreign agent.' 

Late last year, Russian diplomats sought to bring Reade to the UN to testify about diversion of U.S. weapons provided to Ukraine, Semafor reported.