Diplomats' Daughter in Spy Ring Had UK Connection

The British security service Mi5 has recently launched an urgent probe into the UK links of Anna Chapman, a Russian woman arrested in the USA in the recent spy scandal.

Anna Chapman, the 28-year-old daughter of diplomats, lived and worked in the UK in 2003-2008 before leaving for the US. Allegedly, the woman was married to an Englishman, which accounts for her current surname.

Among her employers in the UK were Barclays Bank and NetJets Europe, a private plane hire firm. However, it is not clear either for how long or in which position she worked there. Chapman also has an online real estate business in Russia.

Read morInformation coming in about the Ms Chapman is quite controversial.

"All this has either been staged and all these are political games. I don't really think she is some kind of a spy, because she is not the kind of person to get involved in all this stuff. She has her own interests, her own business and I don't think the story is in any way justified. Probably that's because her parents work for the Foreign Ministry and she's a well-known figure. And because she lived in the UK for some time. Maybe that's the reason for that," said Tatyana Shumilina, a former classmate of Anna Chapman.

However, according to the Guardian newspaper, Chapman is a diplomat's daughter who partied with billionaires and had contact with some very important people in the UK.

Another suspect the UK security service is interested in is Tracey Foley, who allegedly traveled to and from Moscow using a fake passport.

Mi5 is currently closely co-operating with the US authorities in their investigation into the spy story.