Russian seized in FBI swoop spent five years living in London

Spy in the capital? Anna Chapman, pictured here outside Westminster in London, has been arrested in the U.S. after the FBI claimed she was a Russian agent spying on America

Agent Anna's British links: Russian seized in FBI swoop spent five years living in London. Posing for a series of photos, this is the woman at the centre of the alleged Russian spy network uncovered in the U.S.

In one, Anna Chapman - the name she gave investigators - smiles coyly at the camera wearing a shiny green tracksuit top and black-and-white striped T-shirt as she poses in front of Big Ben.

The 28-year-old redhead apparently lived and worked in London for five years before allegedly becoming part of a spy ring based in the States which sent secrets back to the Kremlin.

The picture is thought to have been taken during her stay in the UK. It is unknown if she was engaged in espionage at that stage.

Miss Chapman is emerging as the femme fatal of the James Bond-style plot which saw ' sleepers' embedded in American cities, some more than a decade ago.

And she appears every inch the part, using her charm, beauty and high-society connections to move with ease through the circles of power and use other people to find out state secrets.

She is understood to have a masters degree in economics, an expensive flat in the financial district of New York, and runs a successful international online estate agency, a job which would have given her an excuse to make contact with people around the globe.

She is fluent in Russian and English and conversational in German and French.

On her Facebook page are a series of photos which show off her model-like figure. With 187 friends all over the world, she writes that her motto is: 'If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it.'

Last night Russia admitted some of the accused were Russian citizens, but insisted they were not working to harm U.S. interests.

And Miss Chapman's tearful mother Irina, 51, said in Moscow: 'Of course I deny that my daughter is a spy. It's all very shocking to us.'

If records are correct then Miss Chapman was born in Soviet times in what is now the Kharkov region of Ukraine and seems to have been raised in Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad, in southern Russia.

She studied at the Economics Department of the University of People's Friendship in Moscow, an institution with longstanding links to the old KGB.

Miss Chapman has strong links to Britain and it is thought she was married to a British citizen. She appears to have been here for up to five years from 2003.

She said she worked at Barclays as what she called 'a slave' in their investment banking division before joining hedge fund Navigator Asset Management Advisers in Mayfair.

She also worked for a luxury flight service NetJets Europe, a company from which the rich and famous buy flying time in executive aircraft.

A former colleague at Navigator said yesterday: 'I always wondered how a Russian would have a last name like Chapman and I thought she may have married a European.'

Russian spy at the White House? Accused Mikhail Semenko is pictured left. Right, his co-accused Vicky Pelaez, at a Halloween party. Both images are undated

Posing: Miss Chapman pictured in London, left, and an image posted on her Facebook page, right. She is believed to have attempted to gain access to American secrets by moving through high New York society

Barclays has no record of an Anna Chapman working in its investment side at the time she claims to have been there in 2004 and 2005.

It appears that she returned to Russia to work for asset managers before moving to America to further her own estate agency company, which organises rentals and sales around the world.

Miss Chapman had been making a name for herself as a socialite in Manhattan before her arrest. It was a very different picture from that painted in Manhattan's Federal Court, where she was accused of being a 'practised deceiver'.

Miss Chapman was accused of meeting an official from the Russian government and passing secrets to him every Wednesday since January.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Farbiarz told the court that Miss Chapman was an 'extraordinary agent for Russia'.

Those charged alongside her include 'Richard Murphy' and ' Cynthia Murphy', of Montclair, New Jersey, and Vicky Pelaez and a man known as 'Juan Lazaro', of Yonkers, New York state.

Another three - Mikhail Semenko and a couple known as 'Michael Zottoli' and 'Patricia Mills' - appeared in a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, after being arrested in Arlington, Virginia.

Two more - a couple known as 'Donald Howard Heathfield' and 'Tracey Lee Ann Foley' - were arrested in Boston, Massachusetts.

Finally, Christopher Metsos - named as the mastermind of the operation - was arrested yesterday at Cyprus's Larnaca airport as he tried to leave the island for Budapest.

Anna's world tour: The accused spy also has photographs of herself posted on Russian networking site 'Odnoklassniki', or Classmates, showing herself in front of the Statue of Liberty in New York, as well as various places in Moscow

One of the captions on the Moscow photos reads: 'My favourite place on earth, my native capital'

Tracey Lee Ann Foley, who was posing as a naturalised U.S. citizen born in Canada, is believed to have been given forged British documents by her Russian handlers.

She used them to travel to and from Moscow with greater ease, the FBI has claimed. The Foreign Office said today it was investigating the claim.

If true, it will undo some of the work that Prime Minister David Cameron did during the recent G8 and G20 summits to improve relations with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev.

The arrests are already likely to cause huge diplomatic embarrassment and chill relations between Mr Medvedv and U.S. President Barack Obama at a time when they had been thawing.

Yesterday Mr Obama refused to answer questions over the arrests.

Last night the White House admitted that during last week's 'burger summit' with Mr Medvedev - when the two presidents were pictured sharing a friendly meal together at a fast food restaurant in America - Mr Obama had known the FBI were closing in on an alleged Russian spy ring.

I'm watching you: The now-infamous image from the 'burger summit' last week showing Presidents Obama and Medvedev sharing a fast food meal at a U.S. restaurant. Last night it was claimed that at the time Mr Obama knew the FBI was closing in on an alleged Russian spy ring - but chose to say nothing

But Mr Obama kept the knowledge to himself as he and Mr Medvedev shared an order of French fries.

Meanwhile Russian premier Vladimir Putin - himself a former KGB hardman - told former U.S. President Bill Clinton that American police had been 'out of control'.

However he quickly added that he hoped the case would not damage recent gains made in U.S.-Russia relations.

Miss Foley is believed to be in her 40s and the mother of two teenage sons. Her husband Donald Heathfield is also accused of being a Russian agent.

He was posing as a Canadian citizen, living with Foley in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Harvard University is located. The pair have lived in the U.S. since 1999.

Miss Foley, Mr Heathfield, and their nine co-accused allegedly used invisible ink, short-wave radios, steganography and wi-fi in cafés to pass coded messages back to Russia - including information on nuclear weapons.

Some of them are believed to have been operating for more than a decade.

Accused: L-R, Anna Chapman, Vicky Pelaez, the defendant known as 'Richard Murphy', the defendant known as 'Cynthia Murphy', and the defendant known as 'Juan Lazaro' are seen in Manhattan federal court in New York last night

Miss Chapman is being held without bail after prosecutors called her a 'highly trained agent' and a 'practised deceiver'.

Miss Chapman is believed to have used her high-profile connections to pass American secrets on to a Russian government official every Wednesday since January.

On Saturday, an undercover FBI agent posing as a Russian agent met with Chapman at a restaurant in New York.

The agent was pretending to send the alleged spy on a mission to deliver a fake passport to another female agent, according to court documents.

'Are you ready for this step?' he asked.

'S*** yes,' was her emphatic reply.

She was told that her fellow spy would greet her by asking: 'Haven't we met in California last summer?'

Miss Chapman - who agents believe was operating under her real name - was supposed to reply: 'No, I think it was in the Hamptons.'

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The 'practised deceiver': Above left, Chapman in a photo from her Facebook page wearing her signature red dress. Above right, the accused spy in a racy pose also taken from her Facebook page

The flame-haired femme fatale: Anna Chapman, dressed in in brilliant red, at a party in New York in March. She is accused of being a Russian spy

Once she had handed over the passport, she was to plant a stamp on a wall map to let her handlers know she had succeeded.

But the exchange never took place. The FBI court documents do not explain why.

One of her co-accused, Mikhail Semenko, was similarly set up in Washington by the FBI on the same day.

Unlike Miss Chapman, he did follow through with his delivery.

The FBI also watched Miss Chapman as she sat in a coffee shop in New York and used her lap top to, they claim, communicated with a Russian agent hiding in a mini-van nearby.

And she was once observed going into a Verizon mobile phone shop in Brooklyn to buy a phone using the name 'Irine Kutsov' - giving her address as '99 Fake Street'.

She intended to use the phone for her spying activities, the FBI claimed.

Miss Chapman's lawyer Robert Baum argued that the allegations were exaggerated.

'This is not a case that raises issues of security of the United States,' he said.

The alleged spies have been charged with acting as unregistered agents of a foreign government and with money laundering.

Ten were arrested in the U.S. yesterday and charged in American courts. An 11th man had been on the run - but was arrested by police in Cyprus yesterday morning.

However he was released on bail. Police have not yet explained why.

Among the accused were four couples, including Miss Foley and Mr Heathfield, living quietly in the suburbs of New York and Washington and Boston.

They are believed to have married as part of their cover.

One of the married women, believed to be working under her real name, is Vicky Pelaez, a Peruvian born reporter and editor.

She worked for several years for El Diario/La Prensa, one of the country's best-known Spanish-language newspapers.

She is best known for her opinion columns, which often criticize the U.S. government.

Her son, Waldo Mariscal, told the court that his mother was innocent.

'This is a farce,' he said. 'We don't know the other people.'

In January 2000, Miss Pelaez was videotaped meeting with a Russian government official at a public park in Peru, where she received a bag from the official, according to one complaint.

Miss Pelaez and her husband Juan Lazaro discussed plans to pass covert messages with invisible ink to Russian officials during another trip Pelaez took to South America, the court documents also claim.

The FBI said it intercepted a message from Moscow Center, headquarters of Russia's intelligence service, the SVR, to some of the defendants describing their main mission as 'to search and develop ties in policy-making circles in U.S.'

Intercepted messages showed they were asked to learn about a wide range of topics, including nuclear weapons, U.S. arms control positions, Iran, White House rumours, CIA leadership turnover, the last presidential election, Congress and the political parties.

Suburban spies? Neighbours point outside the residence of Donald Howard Heathfield and Tracey Lee Ann Foley in Cambridge, Massachusetts, after their arrest

Suburban life: The Montclair, New Jersey house where'Richard Murphy' and 'Cynthia Murphy' were arrested by the FBI on Sunday

Court papers also described a new high-tech spy-to-spy communications system used by the defendants: short-range wireless communications between laptop computers.

Working on laptops from free public wi-fi, the spies carried out the modern supplement for the old-style dead drop in a remote area, or high-speed burst radio transmission or the hollowed-out nickels used by Cold War-era Russian spies to conceal and deliver microfilm.

But, despite the new technology, there was no lack of Cold War spycraft.

According to the court papers, the alleged agents used invisible ink, stayed in touch with Moscow Centre through coded bursts of data sent by a radio transmitter, used innocent-looking 'brush' encounters to pass messages in public, hid encrypted data in public images and relied on fake identities and false travel documents.

The arrests are already likely to cause huge diplomatic embarrassment and chill relations between Mr Medvedv and U.S. President Barack Obama at a time when they had been thawing.

The two leaders met last week at the White House, and also both attended the G8 and G20 meetings over the weekend in Canada.

Last night Russia admitted that some of those charged were indeeed Russian - but insisted they were not out to harm U.S. interests.

Moscow denounced the arrests as 'baseless' and the claims as 'contradictory' yesterday.

The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said he will seek an explanation from the U.S. on the allegations.

'They haven't explained to us what this is about,' Lavrov said at a news conference during a visit to Jerusalem yesterday.

'I hope they will.

'The only thing I can say today is that the moment for doing that has been chosen with special elegance.'

Others in the Kremlin suggested the plot was actually an attempt to undermine Mr Obama and his attempts to thaw U.S.-Russia relations.

Many Americans have refused to believe that Russia has changed from the lawless days when the country was run by Russia's spying agency, the KGB.

Their fears have been compounded because former President and now Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, a former First Chief Directorate of the KGB, still effectively controls the country, despite stepping down from power in 2008.

Intelligence on Mr Obama's foreign policy, particularly toward Russia, appears to have been a top priority by the alleged spy ring.

The plot appears to have been going on since some point in the 1990s.

Most of those arrested had been living under assumed names, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The defendants appeared in court last night.

Should they be convicted of being an agent of a foreign government, they face up to five years in jail, and up to 20 for the money laundering.

The spies' mission was spelled out in one communication sent to two of the defendants: 'Your education, bank accounts, car, house etc. - all these serve one goal: fullfil your main mission, i.e to search and develop ties in policy-making circles in US and send intels' to the Moscow Centre', the Kremlin's spy HQ.

Miss Chapman was of particular interest - and not just for her reputation as a beauty.

She is believed to have entered the Russian Mission to the United Nations on ten occasions and sent messages to agents via a private wi-fi network.

On other occasions she would sit outside a coffee shop or go inside a book store whilst a van with a Russian agent in it parked up nearby, allowing them to share the same wi-fi.

In a series of 'info tasks', Russia is said to have given the spies assignments.

In one for May and June, they had to 'gather information with regard to the use of the Internet by terrorists, United States policies in Central Asia and Western estimation of Russian foreign policy'.

In spring 2009, the documents say, alleged conspirators, Richard and Cynthia Murphy, who lived in New Jersey, were asked for information about Mr Obama's impending trip to Russia that summer.

They were also asked for the U.S. negotiating position on the START nuclear arms reduction treaty as well as Afghanistan and the approach Washington would take in dealing with Iran's suspect nuclear program.

They were also asked to send background on U.S. officials travelling with Mr Obama or involved in foreign policy.

'Try to outline their views and most important Obama's goals (sic) which he expects to achieve during summit in July and how does his team plan to do it (arguments, provisions, means of persuasion to 'lure' (Russia) into cooperation in U.S. interests,' Moscow asked.

Moscow wanted reports 'which should reflect approaches and ideas of' four sub-Cabinet U.S. foreign policy officials.

One intercepted message said Cynthia Murphy, 'had several work-related personal meetings with' a man the court papers describe as a prominent New York-based financier active in politics.

In response, Moscow Centre described the man as a very interesting target and urged the defendants to 'try to build up little by little relations. ...

'Maybe he can provide' Murphy 'with remarks re US foreign policy, 'roumors' about White house internal 'kitchen,' invite her to venues (to major political party HQ in NYC, for instance. ... In short, consider carefully all options in regard' to the financier.

The papers allege the defendants' spying has been going on for years.

One defendant in Massachusetts made contact in 2004 with an unidentified man who worked at a U.S. government research facility.

'He works on issues of strategic planning related to nuclear weapon development,' the defendant's intelligence report said.

The defendant 'had conversations with him about research programs on small yield high penetration nuclear warheads recently authorized by U.S. Congress (nuclear 'bunker-buster' warheads),' according to the report.

One message back to Moscow from the defendants focused on turnover at the top level of the CIA and the 2008 U.S. presidential election.

The information was described as having been received in private conversation with, among others, a former legislative counsel for Congress.

The court papers deleted the name of the counsel.

In the papers, FBI agents said the defendants communicated with alleged Russian agents using mobile wireless transmissions between laptop computers - a new spying method.

They established a short-range wireless network between laptop computers of the agents and sent encrypted messages between the computers while they were close to each other.

The femme fatale, the stay-at-home dad, the top newspaper columnist: Who are the bumbling Russian 'spies'?

Anna Chapman

Anna Chapman, 28:

Believed to be using her real name. A beautiful divorcee with a masters' in economics and an online real estate firm who attended high society New York parties, according to reports.

She lived in an apartment in a wealthy area of Manhattan.

She met regularly with Russian officials. FBI agents tried to use that to their advantage by setting up a sting with an agent posing as a Russian handler.

Chapman met with the handler on Saturday - but never followed through on the task given to her. She was arrested in Manhattan.

Mikhail Semenko

Believed to be his real name. Like Chapman, fooled into meeting FBI agents posing as Russian handlers. Unlike Chapman, he actually carried the 'mission' given to him by the FBI agents out.

He was described by friends as being a Mercedes driver in his late-20s who was often heard speaking in Russian to his girlfriend.

He was arrested in Arlington.

The Hala Sultan Tekke Mosque in Larnaca, Cyprus. Metsos was staying in a hotel in Larnaca

Christopher R Metsos, 55:

Arrested in Cyprus this morning attempting to board a flight to Budapest.

Bizarrely, he was then bailed pending an extradition hearing in 30 days. It is highly unusual for Cyprus courts to issue bail for foreign nationals pending extradition.

Not believed to be using his real name. FBI court documents said said Metsos was posing as a Canadian citizen - allowing him to travel freely to New York to meet at least one of the other defendants on numerous occasions.

Metsos has been accused of receiving and making payments to the other members of the group, including getting payments during a brush-pass with a Russian government official who was affiliated with the Russian mission to the United Nations in New York.

The U.S. embassy in Nicosia said it was not aware of the arrest.

Documents Cypriot authorities submitted to court said the Interpol red alert for Metsos was issued on June 26. It said he was thought to have laundered some $40,000.

'He has to appear at a police station once a day and has handed in his travel documents to police,' a police statement said.

Metsos had arrived in Cyprus on June 17 and had been staying alone at a hotel in Larnaca, on the east Mediterranean island's southern coast. His extradition hearing will start on July 29.

Suburban life: The Montclair, New Jersey house where'Richard Murphy' and 'Cynthia Murphy' were arrested by the FBI on Sunday

'The New Jersey Conspirators': Richard and Cynthia Murphy

The pair - believed to have married as part of their cover - have lived in the U.S. since the mid-1990s.

Richard Murphy is posing as a U.S. citizen born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is believed to have travelled on a forged Irish passport.

His wife Cynthia is also posing as an American born as Cynthia Hopkins in New York City.

The couple lived in Hoboken, New Jersey. Since 2008 they have lived in a house in Montclair, New Jersey.

They are believed to have children. A neighbour, Louise Shallcross, 44, said she often saw Richard Murphy at the school bus stop.

'We were all very excited to have a stay-at-home dad move in,' she said.

Another neighbour told the New York Times: 'They couldn’t have been spies. Look what she did with the hydrangeas.'

Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, near where Foley and Heathfield lived

'The Boston Conspirators': Donald Howard Heathfield and Tracey Lee Ann Foley

Donald Heathfield, posing as a Canadian citizen, is married to Tracey Lee Ann Foley, posing as a naturalised U.S. citizen born in Canada.

Tracy Lee Ann Foley is believed to have used a British passport for trips back and forth from Moscow.

The pair, believed to be in their 40s and with two teenage sons, have lived in the U.S. since 1999. Court documents said that until this month they had lived long-term in a Boston townhouse. Now they live near Boston, in the town of Cambridge, Massachusetts.

'The Yonkers Conspirators': Juan Lazaro and Vicky Pelaez

Vicky Pelaez - believed to be her real name - is a United States citizen born in Peru. She is a reporter and editor.

She worked for several years for El Diario/La Prensa, one of the country's best-known Spanish-language newspapers.

She is best known for her opinion columns, which often criticize the U.S. government.

She has a son, Waldo Mariscal.

She is married to Juan Lazaro, posing as a citizen of Peru born in Uruguay.

The couple have each lived in the U.S. for over 20 years.

Graves at Arlington National Cemetery, where America honours its war dead, near where Zottoli and Mills lived

'The Seattle Conspirators': Michael Zottoli and Patricia Mills

Michael Zottoli is posing as a U.S. citizen born in Yonkers, New York.

He is married to Patricia Mills, who was posing as a Canadian citizen.

The couple have lived together over the years in a number of locations, including an apartment in Seattle, Washington.

In October, 2009, they moved to Arlington, Virginia.

Zottoli has lived in the U.S. since 2001, and Mills since 2003.

In Arlington, where Zottoli and Mills lived in a ninth-floor apartment, next-door neighbor Celest Allred said her guess had been that 'they were Russian, because they had Russian accents'.

They were arrested at home. ( dailymail.co.uk )