OK, Hot Spies against America I make an exception. (I can't help it being a Red Blooded American Male I got a Soft Spot For Anna. On my pillow next to me, lol). But, especially if they aren't really spying they are just getting paid by the Kremlin to hang out and look really, really good.Sleeper agent at centre of Russian spy ring exposed in US gives first TV interview on Let Them Speak and reveals her secrets
She’s a good shot, likes eating salted herrings and has a new pet: a lion cub called Nano. Those were the secrets revealed when Anna Chapman, the sleeper agent at the centre of a Russian spy ring exposed in the US, gave her first television interview yesterday.
Chapman, 28, who has done several risqu photo shoots for men’s magazines since she was deported in July, appeared on one of Russia’s most popular chat shows, Let Them Speak.
Wearing a tight green dress, she made her entrance to the James Bond theme tune as a screen showed pictures of her sashaying through Red Square, and, in a different sequence, swinging to point a pistol at the audience. “I’m a very good marksman,” she told the host Andrei Malakhov. “I have a passion for it.”
Chapman, who was praised by Vladimir Putin, the prime minister, and awarded a state medal in the Kremlin, is being promoted as a patriotic role model, despite the failure of her mission. She and nine other undercover agents had been monitored for years by the FBI before they were arrested in June.
Since returning to Russia after being freed in a spy swap, the other agents have shunned publicity, but Chapman has cultivated a high-profile image which chimes with the macho posturing of Putin, himself a former KGB lieutenant colonel. Earlier this month she became a leader of Molodaya Gvardiya, the youth wing of Putin’s party.
When the premier met the “illegals” as the agents are called in the summer, he joined them in singing From What the Motherland Begins, a sentimental song from a Soviet-era spy series. On television this week, a Ukrainian crooner led the audience and guests in a rendition of the song, although Chapman appeared not to know the words. “I’m a terrible singer,” she explained.
Chapman refused to confirm she was ever a spy but said her favourite Bond was Sean Connery. Asked if she would die for her country, she replied: “The incorruptibility of a person is one of the most important qualities. The only thing more important than patriotism is to be humane. Love of the motherland is vital to be a happy person.”
Sources in the SVR, Russia’s foreign intelligence service, have admitted that a double agent betrayed Chapman and her colleagues, and fled to the US shortly before they were exposed.
The defection caused deep soul searching in Russia’s intelligence community, but asked if fate would punish the culprit, Chapman replied: “I wouldn’t like to wish anyone anything negative. Even a traitor.”
The rest of the show was punctuated with clips from family videos which showed Chapman attending a ballet class, reading a school poem about friendship, overturning a quad bike and visiting a giraffe centre.
An monosyllabic ex-boyfriend appeared to give her a bunch of flowers andher former English teacher sent a message from her home town of Volgograd. “It was she who really made me want to live in London,” said Chapman. “She told me about the red telephone boxes, the red buses.” She worked in Britain from about 2001 to 2006, had a flat in Stoke Newington, north London, and was briefly married to an Englishman, whose surname she kept.
In-between the clips and visits, Chapman spoke about the need to love each other, focus on the positive and do unspecified good things for your country.Chapman’s grandmother gave some relief from the platitudes. She brought her granddaughter her favourite food, “herring in a fur coat” – a traditional dish of salted fish covered in beetroot.
She also told how, as a child, Chapman had loved a book called, The Tale of the Military Secret. “We used to play out the roles,” she said. “I would tie Anya up and say, ‘Tell me the secret!’ But she would always reply, ‘No!’ very severely. And I would shoot her.”
At the end of the show, Malakhov, who called Chapman “girl of the year”, asked if she had a wish. She said: “I’ve tortured everyone with the idea that I want a lion cub.” A lion cub was promptly presented. She stroked it and said quietly: “Wow! That’s something.”
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
No comments:
Post a Comment