Russian spy Anna Chapman has praised her countrymen for the ‘wave of patriotism and faith’ amid the Ukraine invasion, thanking her fellow Russians for backing Vladimir Putin’s war – and then urging them to buy her clothes range.
The 40-year-old model, who was expelled from the United States in 2010 after pleading guilty to espionage, has in the years since her return to Moscow carved out a career as an influencer and fashion designer.
On Saturday, she posted a photo of her in a green strapless gown, holding aloft a black heeled shoe, captioned: ‘I have never seen such a wave of patriotism and faith in our country and the Russian people in my entire life … Thank you for this.
‘On this wave of patriotism, I would like to fill you in on my clothing brand, which I created out of love for my country.
‘We basically produced in Russia, all our fabrics are the trends of Russian culture.’
Anna Chapman on Saturday posted a picture to Instagram captioned: ‘I have never seen such a wave of patriotism and faith in our country and the Russian people in my entire life … Thank you for this.’ She urged them to then buy her clothing brand, ‘which I created out of love for my country’
As Chapman praised Russian ‘patriotism’, Ukrainians such as this woman in Markhalivka were having their lives torn apart by Russian missiles. She is pictured on Saturday, the same day as Chapman’s post
A Ukrainian volunteer fighter helps carry a child for local residents as they evacuate on foot as Russian forces advance on Irpin on Sunday
Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, is pictured on Friday
She then added that the clothes were available on the e-commerce site Wildberries.
She said it would be the ideal gift for International Women’s Day, which is marked on Tuesday.
Chapman’s 2010 mugshot taken when she was arrested in New York
‘Please your women on the eve of March 8,’ she concluded.
Chapman appears to have dramatically changed her views since last week when, on March 2, she posted an anti-war message to Facebook.
The video was a clip of a Tedx Talk in Krasnaya Polyana, which Chapman gave in February 2020.
‘Unfortunately many people today have forgotten the joy with which Soviet and American soldiers embraced each other during the meeting on the Elbe River,’ she said.
‘United, we were able to stop the terrible war and prevent Hitler from creating an atom bomb.
‘How many more decades of conformations we will need? How many more human lives? And how much money from our federal budget until we understand that killing each other is pointless?’
She also said that she couldn’t ‘hate’ Americans even after her arrest in the US.
The video was under the theme: ‘Who are we fighting in the world?’
Chapman last week shared to Facebook her 2020 Tedx talk, in which she condemned war
In February 2020, Chapman declared: ‘How many more decades of conformations we will need? How many more human lives? And how much money from our federal budget until we understand that killing each other is pointless?’ She shared the clip again last week – but has now changed her position
Anna Chapman’s clothing range is for sale on a Russian e-commerce site. This 250 ruble scarf is currently worth $2.35, as the ruble plunges
Chapman’s website features dresses for 750 rubles ($7) and hats for 400 rubles ($3.75)
Her bio for the event stated: ‘Anna Chapman graduated as an economist specialising in global economy. Anna grew up outside Russia and studied at a women’s Catholic convent.
‘She opened her first business at the age of 21 in London, where she moved in her last year at university. The passion for entrepreneurship never left her heart even though after USA Anna began career in the main Russian party ‘United Russia’.
‘In 2010, Anna launched her own show on the REN TV television channel as presenter.
‘Being public figure for 10 years Anna Chapman never gave an interview about what happened in New York in summer 2010.
‘In TED talk she speaks first about her feelings.’
Chapman was part of a ring of Russian sleeper agents that ended after more than a decade in the biggest spy swap since the Cold War.
Chapman’s arrest dominated the newspapers at the time, when it emerged she had been working as a real estate agent in New York
Chapman (top left) was one of 10 Russians arrested in July 2010. They were swapped in Vienna for four Russians imprisoned for helping the West
Chapman, unlike the other Russian spies, did not opt for a quiet life on returning to Russia. She is pictured on the front page of Maxim magazine in October 2010
Chapman, in a photo posted to Instagram – one of many of her in form-fitting, slinky outfits and sultry poses
Called illegals because they took civilian jobs instead of operating inside Russian embassies and military missions, the spies mostly settled into quiet lives in middle-class neighborhoods.
They were under orders from Moscow to burrow deep into US society and cultivate contacts with academics, entrepreneurs and government policymakers on subjects from defense to finance.
Chapman worked as a real estate agent in New York, and the massive hit FX Network show The Americans, which ran from 2013-18, was based on their story.
The US swapped the 10 deep cover agents for four Russians imprisoned for spying for the West at a remote corner of a Vienna airport in July 2010, in a scene reminiscent of the carefully-choreographed exchange of spies at Berlin’s Glienicke Bridge during the Cold War.
Chapman’s Instagram feed is full of sultry poses in evening gowns
Chapman is pictured in Dubai in a recent Instagram photo
On Sunday Chapman posted what looked like a watch advert, captioned: ‘Our strength lies not in the fact that we are not afraid (to be afraid is completely normal), but in how we cope with this fear, anger, regret. What do we do when we’re afraid? We give in to the instincts to run/freeze/hide/blame or control our feelings, bringing them to higher vibrations. So let’s raise awareness’
One of the four Russians swapped for Chapman and the others was Sergei Skripal, a former colonel for Russian military intelligence, the GRU.
He was sentenced in 2006 to 13 years in prison for passing the names of other Russian agents to British intelligence.
After the prisoner exchange, Skripal moved to Britain, and in March 2018 Russian assassins travelled to the British city of Salisbury to attempt to kill him with the nerve agent Novichok. They failed, but did kill a British woman passing by.
The freed Soviet spies mainly kept a low profile after their return to Moscow, but Chapman became a lingerie model, corporate spokeswoman and television personality.
She also became an activist for the pro-Kremlin youth party, and was outspoken in her support of Donald Trump.
Then-president Dmitry Medvedev awarded all 10 of the freed deep-cover operatives Russia’s highest honors at a Kremlin ceremony.
