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Stunning Russian super spy Anna Chapman, 40, first hit headlines in 2010 when she was exposed as a sleeper agent by the FBI.

After being deported to Russia that year as part of a Russian-American spy swap, the red-headed bombshell has worked in a variety of fields from catwalk modelling to promoting pro-Vladimir Putin propaganda on Instragram.

Recently she took to social media to heap praise on her countrymen amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Besides a glam snap of her donning a turquoise dress she penned: "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."

The case against the multi-millionaire ex-spook's sleeper cell was dubbed Operation Ghost Stories, a bust that US officials claimed broke up the biggest foreign spy network in America since the Cold War.

Anna was able to gain residency in the US as she had UK citizenship through her marriage to Brit Alex Chapman.

The pair reportedly met at a London Docklands rave in 2001, tying the knot the following year and divorcing in 2006.

Following her arrest in 2010 Alex said he was "not surprised", claiming that her dad Vasily Kushchenko had been high up in the KGB.

Recalling the time he first met Vasily during the couples' honeymoon to Zimbabwe – where his former father-in-law was working as a diplomat – Alex told The Telegraph: "He didn't trust anyone.

"He asked me why I had chosen a Russian bride and asked what business I had in Russia, and I said none.

"He was scary. He would never introduce me to other Russian people who came to the house and he always seemed to have a lot more security than the other diplomats.

Anna pleaded guilty to conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government without telling the US government, with officials accusing her of "carrying out long-term, 'deep-cover' assignments in the United States on behalf of the Russian Federation".

The 10 sleeper agents were traded for four Russians, one being Sergei Skripal who had been acting as a double agent for the British and was almost killed by Russian assassins in Salisbury in the 2018 Novichok poisonings.

Although most Soviet spies tend to stay out of the limelight following arrests, Anna quickly shot to stardom in Russia on TV screens and in lads mags.

From 2011 she started hosting Russian TV show Secrets of the World and was appointed editor of Venture Business News magazine.

Anna featured on the front of the Russian version of Maxim in skimpy lingerie, was included in a list of Russia's 100 sexiest women and was a runway model for Moscow Fashion Week.

When doing a segment on Anna in 2010, chat show host Jay Leno asked then-Vice President Joe Biden: "Do we have any spies that hot?"

Biden replied jokingly: "Let me be clear, it was not my idea to send her back."

In 2018, amid conflict in Syria, Anna called for Putin to blow up British warships in the event of all out war between Russia and the West.

She said: “If, God save us, there is an open military conflict between Russia and USA in Syria, our attacks should be aimed not only at American ships and planes.

“The British recently launched two new warships – aircraft carriers [HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales].

“I think if something unpleasant happens to them – like sinking to the bottom – the British ‘aristocracy’ will come to its senses very fast.”

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• Russia
• Russia Ukraine war
• Vladimir Putin

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