Glamorous ex-Russian spy Anna Chapman poses on a yoga mat in her sports gear as she reveals she’s been using the relaxation method for 20 years to keep her weight down
- The flame-haired former spy said she ‘found everything I was looking for in yoga’
- She shared pictures of herself sitting on a yoga mat in a sports bra and leggings
- Chapman was returned to Russia in 2010 in a spy swap involving Sergei Skripal
Former Russian spy Anna Chapman has revealed she is a yoga fan and has been using the relaxation method for 20 years.
The flame-haired Kremlin propagandist, who was deported to Russia in 2010 in a spy swap involving Sergei Skripal, said she had ‘found everything I was looking for in yoga’.
The glamorous 37-year-old said she used yoga to control her weight and claimed to belong to the ‘coolest studio in Moscow’.
She also shared two pictures of herself looking relaxed on a yoga mat with her hair tied up, wearing a bright blue sports bra and matching leggings.
Yoga fan: Glamorous former spy Anna Chapman – who was thrown out of the United States in 2010 after admitting to espionage for Moscow – poses on a mat as she revealed she does yoga
Sports gear: The former spy shared pictures of herself looking relaxed on a yoga mat, wearing a bright blue sports bra and matching leggings
Posting to her 640,000 Instagram followers, she said: ‘I’m often accused of not letting people into my personal life. There is such a thing. I appreciate security.
She went on: ‘But now I will tell you a personal thing. I have been doing yoga for 20 years.
‘I have never spoken about this before, I did not give detailed interviews in healthy lifestyle magazines. I was not a member of vegan communities and other trends so fashionable today.
‘After the end of my rhythmic career in rhythmic gymnastics, I really missed the stretching. And I found everything I was looking for – in yoga.’
Saying she was part of the ‘coolest studio in Moscow’ she said she used yoga to help control her weight.
Glamorous: Former spy Anna Chapman, pictured left during a fashion show in Moscow and right in the Russian capital in 2010, the year she was returned to her homeland in a spy swap
The 37-year-old, who admitted spying for Russia in 2010, was once married to a British former public schoolboy.
She worked at Barclays Bank and held a UK passport, which was later stripped by then-Home Secretary Theresa May.
In 2009 she moved to New York but the following year she was exposed as part of a Russian spy ring and thrown out of the country.
Chapman and nine other Russian secret agents were returned to Eastern Europe in exchange for four Western spies – including Sergei Skripal – in a dramatic swap in Vienna 2010.
In the wake of the Skripal poisoning in March 2018 it emerged that her ex-husband, Alex Chapman, had died two years earlier.
Former spy: Anna Chapman, pictured, has revealed to her 640,000 Instagram followers that she practises yoga and belongs to the ‘coolest studio in Moscow’
Before and after: Anna Chapman visits New York’s Statue of Liberty (left) during her time in the United States and walks at a fashion show (right) following her return to Russia
Since moving back to Russia Chapman has worked as a TV presenter on a show called Mysteries of the World for Ren-TV.
In 2015 it was reported she had given birth to her first child, a boy.
Chapman – who also runs her own label fashion boutiques in Moscow – is seen as a Kremlin propagandist and is believed to have made a fortune since her return to Russia.
Last year she claimed her country was able to defeat the West’s ‘propaganda’ to stage a successful World Cup.
Visitors saw ‘the real picture of what Russia truly is,’ she said. This was ‘despite propaganda efforts from the West’.
Fashionable: Since moving back to Russia Chapman has worked as a TV presenter on a show called Mysteries of the World for Ren-TV
Spy swap: American and Russian aircraft stand on the tarmac during an exchange of spies in Vienna in 2010 which involved both Anna Chapman and Sergei Skripal