Russia 110328 Basic Political Developments

The secrets of Anna Chapman

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12876927
Ms Chapman is coy about the accusations she spied on the United States

Russia's Anna Chapman captured the media world's attention last year when she was deported from the US, accused of being a spy. The BBC's Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg investigates "Russia's most glamorous secret agent".

On the 35th floor of a Moscow skyscraper, an office is filling with smoke.

Suddenly I hear the click-click-click of high heels on parquet floor. And through the mist walks redhead Anna Chapman in a stunning blue dress.

She doesn't seem in any hurry to evacuate the building.

That's because the smoke is being pumped into the room by a machine to make her look special.

Russia's most glamorous secret agent is here to record her weekly TV show. Judging from the scripted lines she's speaking to camera, it's clearly not light entertainment.

"Why are some people marked by death, and others escape it?"

Cut.

"More than a million Russians die every year. Nearly 40,000 in road accidents."

Cut.

"This woman returned from Egypt a cripple. A shark ripped off her arm."

Cut.

Unsolved mysteries

Anna Chapman's show is called Secrets of the World. Each week on the Russian channel Ren TV, she sets about explaining the mysteries of our planet.

"The programme's for everyone," Anna says in a break. "Everyone is interested in mysteries, because they are secrets, they are unsolved."

She is less keen, however, to talk about her own secrets. I ask Anna Chapman if she really had been a spy.

"I will never deny and I will never confirm the fact," she replies coldly.

“Start Quote

All I'm going to say is I'm interested in helping other people - that's all”

End Quote Anna Chapman

The Americans had no such doubts on the matter.

Eight months ago, Anna Chapman was one of 10 alleged Russian sleeper agents deported from the United States.

At Vienna airport the agents were exchanged for four people the Russians claimed had been spying for the West.

It was the biggest spy swap since the Cold War. Back in Russia, Ms Chapman and her fellow deportees received medals from President Dmitry Medvedev and heaps of praise from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Most secret agents, once uncovered, arrested and deported, normally adopt a low profile back home. Not Anna Chapman.

Since returning to Russia, she's hardly been out of the headlines.

ALhough I haven't confirmed this fact, she is surely the first Russian spy to have done a photo shoot for a men's magazine wearing very little and brandishing a pistol.

As well as being a model, Ms Chapman has also been an investment adviser for a bank, a charity worker and a campaigner for high-speed internet.

She's also been elected one of the leaders of the youth wing of Mr Putin's political party.

There are rumours she may even run for parliament this autumn. I ask Ms Chapman if that's true.

"All I'm going to say is I'm interested in helping other people," she replies. "That's all."

It's another secret she is keeping well away from the cameras.

3D dreams

Anna Chapman rarely gives interviews, although last December a Russian TV show declared her Woman of the Year and devoted an hour of airtime to her.

In a programme resembling This is Your Life, Ms Chapman sat on a settee as a stream of figures from her past appeared on stage.

Among them, Yegor from Volgograd - her old boyfriend from school. The audience applauded as he gave her a peck on the cheek and a bunch of flowers.

One person who wasn't there was the man Anna married when she was living in England: Alex Chapman. They divorced after four years of marriage.

Now Anna hosts her own TV show. And she's got more plans in the world of television.

"I'm planning to launch a 3D production company here in Russia," she says. "We have the Winter Olympics and other interesting events coming up that I could cover. I'm going to launch a 3D pilot project soon."

After an hour's recording on the set of her programme, Anna Chapman is flagging.

"To be honest, I wouldn't mind something to eat now," she says to the director.

It shows that, although Ms Chapman is a woman of mystery, she is only human.

She is also charming, at times giggly and clearly keen to perfect her TV skills.

But there is a steely side, too, to Anna Chapman, a determination not to let down her guard.

She is unlikely to reveal her own secrets any time soon.

March 26, 2011, 8:15 pm

N.H.L. Puts Freeze on Games in Russia

http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/26/n-h-l-puts-freeze-on-games-in-russia/
By JEFF Z. KLEIN and STU HACKEL

The Rangers and the Washington Capitals will not open the 2011-12 N.H.L. season in Russia, nor will any N.H.L. clubs play Kontinental Hockey League clubs in exhibition games in Russia next fall.

Talks between the N.H.L. and K.H.L. broke off last week, scuttling both plans. The leagues could not agree on financial guarantees and gate percentages.

According to Bill Daly, the N.H.L. deputy commissioner, a key reason for the lack of agreement on exhibition games was the contentious game between SKA St. Petersburg and the Carolina Hurricanes last October.

SKA won, 5-3, but the Hurricanes did not allow their captain and star, Eric Staal, off the bench for the last 25 minutes because, Coach Paul Maurice said, SKA body checkers “were getting awfully close to his knees.”

Asked Friday if the deal fell through because of what happened on or off the ice in St. Petersburg, Daly replied, “The former.”

There were several short tussles and one fight in that game, the first an N.H.L. club played on Russian ice in 20 years. Carolina’s Joni Pitkanen was ejected with a spearing major.

But English language reports and the Hurricanes focused on what they saw as low-bridge hits on Staal.

In New York last January, the K.H.L. president, Alexander Medvedev, met with Rangers General Manager Glen Sather and Ken Yaffe, the N.H.L. senior vice president for international affairs, in an effort to set up games involving the Rangers and Alex Ovechkin’s Capitals in various cities in Russia, Ovechkin’s home country. Last week, Medvedev said the loss of the games would hurt the N.H.L.

“I’m 100 percent sure that they are losing not only the possibility to get money, but the possibility to expand interest for their own game through this competition with the K.H.L,” Medvedev said.