... and how spy he was swapped for became Putin’s poster girl
SINCE returning to Russia as part of the Sergei Skripal ‘spy swap’, Anna Chapman has not shied away from firing salvoes at the West. The buxom 36-year-old redhead is a prolific user of social media, where she combines her twin interests in international affairs and modelling to eye-popping effect by posting alluring pictures of herself alongside trenchant criticisms of Russia’s enemies. One Facebook post praised Vladimir Putin’s recent speech in which he told the world he had new hypersonic nuclear weapons capable of dodging missile defences. ‘It is surely a sensation,’ gushed Chapman. ‘The world has changed. It won’t be possible any more to thumb your nose at Russia without punishment.’ She has also urged her 109,000 followers on the photo-sharing site Instagram to join a contest to name the terrifying new addition to Moscow’s armoury. They can vote for their favourite suggestion from a list including ‘Orphan’ and ‘Ash’.
Chapman, who once lived in the UK and was married to British former public schoolboy Alex Chapman, is also happy to share some of her more personal opinions. Alongside a photograph of herself in a green bikini on a beach in Phuket, Thailand, she wrote: ‘Let’s digress a little from politics. The other day we again proved that Russian women are the most beautiful in the world: 52-year-old Faina Vasilyeva from Zheleznogorsk won the title “Grandmother of Europe”.’
The daughter of a diplomat, Russianborn Anna Kushchenko moved to London in 2001 after meeting Mr Chapman at a party. After a whirlwind romance, the pair married in 2002 and she spent five years living in the UK, before she moved to New York City.
There, she ran an international online estate agency.
She was arrested by American authorities in 2010, charged with spying offences, and was one of ten Russian agents sent home in the largest spy swap since the Cold War. Colonel Skripal was one of four spies exchanged for the Russian agents.
Yuri Felshtinsky, co-author with poisoned spy Alexander Litvinenko of Blowing Up Russia, last night described Chapman as ‘media gold for Vladimir Putin’ and ‘a trophy of his success against the West’.
He told the Mail: ‘There is no doubt that she is being rewarded for her public service by the Kremlin. After she returned and proved loyal, she could pick whatever she wanted. Putin wants his associates to know that unflinching loyalty is lavishly rewarded.’