Anna Chapman is, by any account, an absolutely gorgeous 28-year-old woman. A divorcee, this Russian emigrant claimed she ran an online real-estate sales company worth $2 million dollars, but according to federal officials in New York, she was part of an 11-person-strong Russian spy ring of old-school infiltrators. Her role, as well as the role of the other Russians in the ring? Move to America, live in the surburbs, pose as normal people, and gather intelligence for the Moscow Central headquarters of SVR, Russia’s version of the CIA.
Apparently, spies in the ring have been active as far back as 2000, which is just mind-boggling to consider that these 11 people pretended to be average Americans (even marrying and having children together!) for so long before anyone discovered them. Then again, would you suspect that fresh-faced youngster above of spying? I sure wouldn’t.
Chapman and the other spies would meet in public, and communicate via code phrases and even how they held magazines, which is one step above secret shoelace messages on the James Bond Scale Of Spy Stuff. The ring was active in New York, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C., and was apparently charged with feeling out Washington insiders in the Obama administration, as well as gathering information on American culture and habits.
Tags: suburban spy rings, old-school spies, Anna Chapman, Anya Chapman, 28-year-old Russian spy, espionage, Russian spy ring busted in New York suburbs, New York City, New York, Moscow Central