Russian spy Anna Chapman to become MP

Is there no end to Anna Chapman’s talents? The Russian spy turned celebrity glamour-puss is said to be preparing for a move into politics. She’s being lined up by Vladimir Putin's United Russia party as the next MP for her home town of Volgograd.
 
If reports in the Russian media are true, her latest career move will involve the somewhat inflammatory gesture of planting a Russian flag in the soil of a chain of disputed islands off the coast of Japan.
 
Chapman is due to travel to the Kuril Islands next month as part of a delegation from the United Russia party's Young Guard in order to make a documentary about life on the islands. She has been a member of the group's council since last year, but her trip will have added significance if she is about to become an MP.
 
The islands were annexed by Russia after World War II but are claimed by Japan. The dispute has prevented the two countries from ever signing a formal peace treaty.
 
Chapman is unlikely to be too concerned about the reaction in Japan as she is well used to souring relations between Russia and other countries. In 2010 she was deported from the US, along with nine other Russians, after it emerged that they were part of a spy ring operating in suburban America.
 
Chapman was easily the most high-profile of the 'sleeper agents', who were feted by Putin on their return and given state honours.
 
Since her return Chapman has kept busy. She appeared on the front of Russian Maxim in her underwear and holding a gun, worked for Russian bank FondServisBank, and since last month has presented a TV show called Secrets of the World about historical mysteries.
 
That might not sound like the usual background for a career in politics but Putin, much like his good friend Silvio Berlusconi, has a reputation for recruiting politicians with unusual backgrounds.
 
Olympic gymnasts Svetlana Khorkina and Alina Kabayeva - long rumoured to be his mistress - have provided support for United Russia in the Duma in recent years. ·