Russia's Red-Haired 'Black Widow' Returns For New Spy Mission

She was once accused of seducing her way into the secrets of the West. Anna Chapman, the infamous red-haired Russian spy deported from the United States in 2010, has a new mission: to tell the story of those who never got caught. She will be heading the newly established Museum of Russian Intelligence.

The museum is directly linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign spy agency, the SVR, and is registered near Moscow's Gorky Park, within the press office of the Foreign Intelligence Service. It is expected to showcase the history and "achievements" of Russian espionage. Under the oversight of Sergey Naryshkin, the SVR's current chief and a close ally of Putin, the museum is said to celebrate the legacy of Russian spies.

FBI Custody

Chapman's story reads like a spy thriller and for a time, it was one. In 2010, the FBI arrested her in New York as part of a Russian sleeper cell under Operation Ghost Stories. The decade-long investigation uncovered deep-cover operatives living "illegally" in the US.

When Chapman moved to Manhattan in 2009, she told friends she worked in real estate. The FBI later revealed that she was using her laptop to establish secret wireless networks to communicate with Russian officials. Between her arrival and her arrest, law enforcement agents said she performed this operation roughly ten times.

On June 27, 2010, Chapman and nine others were arrested. Eleven days later, they pleaded guilty to conspiring to serve as unlawful agents of the Russian Federation. The US deported them to Moscow in a high-profile spy swap that freed four Russians who had allegedly cooperated with Western intelligence. One of them was Sergei Skripal, later poisoned in Salisbury in an attack linked to the Kremlin.

The British Connection

Before her arrest, Chapman lived in London, using her charm and social skills to move through elite circles of politicians, businessmen, and oligarchs. Her story, has prompted many on social media to dub her the real-life 'Black Widow', a character in Marvel Comics. Soon, a Russian agent noticed her talent for networking and recruited her.

She gained British citizenship through her marriage to Alex Chapman, though, the relationship ended as dramatically as it began. Alex once accused her of trying to kill him with a power drill.

In her memoir, BondiAnna. To Russia with Love, published last year, she portrayed herself as a real-life female 007.

"I knew the effect I had on men," she wrote. "Nature had generously endowed me with the necessary attributes: a slim waist, a full chest, a cascade of red hair. All I needed was to emphasise it - which I did with simple yet sexy outfits, light makeup, and an effortless air about me. Most importantly, I didn't try too hard to please. And it worked like magic."

Her book recounts a glamorous life of luxury trips, lavish parties, and encounters with the powerful. One particularly telling anecdote describes how she landed a job at a London hedge fund after winning a game of strip poker.

Back In Russia

After returning to Russia, Chapman quickly reinvented herself, first as a businesswoman, then as a TV presenter and social media figure. A loyal supporter of Putin, she often appeared in pro-Kremlin patriotic campaigns and became a symbol of national pride in Russian intelligence. She later became a mother to a baby boy.

Now 43 and using the alias Anna Romanova, she uses her platform to promote traditional Russian values, as per The Sun.