Santa
17th October 2011, 07:48 AM
The group, which was betrayed by a Russian agent who fled to the US, was deported as part of the biggest spy swap since the end of the Cold War.Wow. The spy swap thing takes on a whole new meaning for me after reading this. ::)
Russians scorn 'pornographic' glam spy Anna Chapman
http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2011/10/17/1226168/119803-anna-chapman.jpg
From Russia without love: Anna Chapman has gone from hero to zero. Picture: AP
RUSSIAN Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sang patriotic songs with her, the Kremlin gave her a medal and state television feted her as a heroine.
But little more than a year after failed spy Anna Chapman was charged in the United States with conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government and deported, a Kremlin-backed campaign to turn her into a role model for young Russians appears to have backfired.
Protests broke out last month when she was invited to give a lecture on leadership at St. Petersburg State University, a leading centre of academic excellence.
Students who carried banners stating "You have nothing to teach us!" and "Kremlin and pornography, out!" tried to prevent her entering the building and then heckled her speech.
Putting on a brave face, Chapman, who had banned reporters from the lecture, at first ordered the protesters to leave but then said she wanted to hear opposing views.
"Unfortunately, everything you know about me comes from articles planted in the press," she said.
Student leaders objected to the invitation, saying she had been asked to speak without their consent. "It's unclear what Chapman has to teach students at Russia's best university given that she's a pseudo-spy who owes her fame to being exposed and to posing for explicit photographs," they said.
They described the event as "political pornography" that brought the university into disrepute. One heckler dismissed her appearance as a "Kremlin stunt".
Although some students said they had enjoyed the lecture and even posed for photographs with Chapman, the Russian internet is awash with unflattering comments.
"We've clearly hit rock bottom if someone like Chapman is now being asked to teach our students," one blogger wrote. "Forget about morals or patriotism."
Even on Chapman's profile page on VKontakte, a social networking site where she has more than 40,000 followers, many of the comments were disparaging.
The daughter of an intelligence officer, Chapman was arrested in June last year by the FBI along with nine other Russians on suspicion of spying on the US
The group, which was betrayed by a Russian agent who fled to the US, was deported as part of the biggest spy swap since the end of the Cold War.
Chapman lived in London for several years before moving to New York in 2009, where she started an internet property business.
In July 2010, in the wake of the spying case, she was stripped of her British citizenship. She had acquired it after marrying a Briton, whom she divorced in 2006.
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/world/russians-scorn-glamour-spy-anna-chapman/story-e6frfkyi-1226168119860#ixzz1b3AB0ZJO
Russians scorn 'pornographic' glam spy Anna Chapman
http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2011/10/17/1226168/119803-anna-chapman.jpg
From Russia without love: Anna Chapman has gone from hero to zero. Picture: AP
RUSSIAN Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sang patriotic songs with her, the Kremlin gave her a medal and state television feted her as a heroine.
But little more than a year after failed spy Anna Chapman was charged in the United States with conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government and deported, a Kremlin-backed campaign to turn her into a role model for young Russians appears to have backfired.
Protests broke out last month when she was invited to give a lecture on leadership at St. Petersburg State University, a leading centre of academic excellence.
Students who carried banners stating "You have nothing to teach us!" and "Kremlin and pornography, out!" tried to prevent her entering the building and then heckled her speech.
Putting on a brave face, Chapman, who had banned reporters from the lecture, at first ordered the protesters to leave but then said she wanted to hear opposing views.
"Unfortunately, everything you know about me comes from articles planted in the press," she said.
Student leaders objected to the invitation, saying she had been asked to speak without their consent. "It's unclear what Chapman has to teach students at Russia's best university given that she's a pseudo-spy who owes her fame to being exposed and to posing for explicit photographs," they said.
They described the event as "political pornography" that brought the university into disrepute. One heckler dismissed her appearance as a "Kremlin stunt".
Although some students said they had enjoyed the lecture and even posed for photographs with Chapman, the Russian internet is awash with unflattering comments.
"We've clearly hit rock bottom if someone like Chapman is now being asked to teach our students," one blogger wrote. "Forget about morals or patriotism."
Even on Chapman's profile page on VKontakte, a social networking site where she has more than 40,000 followers, many of the comments were disparaging.
The daughter of an intelligence officer, Chapman was arrested in June last year by the FBI along with nine other Russians on suspicion of spying on the US
The group, which was betrayed by a Russian agent who fled to the US, was deported as part of the biggest spy swap since the end of the Cold War.
Chapman lived in London for several years before moving to New York in 2009, where she started an internet property business.
In July 2010, in the wake of the spying case, she was stripped of her British citizenship. She had acquired it after marrying a Briton, whom she divorced in 2006.
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/world/russians-scorn-glamour-spy-anna-chapman/story-e6frfkyi-1226168119860#ixzz1b3AB0ZJO