18-10-10 Russian Spies Honored By Russian President

Anna Chapman,the sultry undercover agent who pleaded guilty to spying for Mother Russia this summer,has now been honored by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev for her espionage.In a Kremlin ceremony,Medvedev bestowed high honors on Chapman and the nine other members of a Russian sleeper ring who were arrested in June for spying on America.Many of the spies had lived in the United States under false identities for years.A Kremlin spokeswoman told reporters Monday that “top state awards were presented” to a number of officers in the SVR – Russia’s foreign intelligence service – including the “intelligence agents who worked in the United States and returned to Russia in July.” Russia awards top state honours to ‘deported spies’ (AFP, 18 Oct 2010).President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday handed top state honours to the Russian spies deported from the United States in July in the biggest spy scandal since the Cold War, the Kremlin said.“A ceremony took place in the Kremlin today to hand top state honours to a number of Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) employees,including the spies who were working in the United States and returned to Russia in July,” Kremlin spokeswoman Natalya Timakova said in a statement on Russian news agencies.No television footage or pictures have so far been released of the ceremony,which came on the same day as Medvedev received the credentials of new foreign ambassadors.