It wasn’t a typical catwalk display. But then, Anna Chapman isn’t your typical catwalk model.
The former Russian spy, who was unmasked working in America by the FBI last year, made a surprise appearance at Moscow Fashion Week in a fur-lined jacket and black leather trousers.
And although the male model beside her – Russian singer Dima Bilan – looks relaxed, that gun Miss Chapman is holding to his throat is no toy but a real weapon which the 29-year-old is licensed to carry.
Despite her past in espionage, however, she did not seem totally at home in handling the weapon, managing to drop it as she took to the catwalk, causing consternation among KGB veterans.
‘For a special agent, a gun is part of your profession. It is sacred and such a careless attitude to it is simply unacceptable,’ one told the local media.
Miss Chapman was showing off clothes by Moscow designers Ilya Shiyan and Yana Rudkovskaya. But she is unlikely to be a catwalk queen for long.
After modeling lingerie and securing her own TV show, she is now poised to become a Russian MP representing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s party.
The divorced wife of a former British public schoolboy whose surname she still uses, Miss Chapman is already an activist in the ‘Young Guard’ of the United Russia party, and is tipped to represent her home city of Volgograd in elections later this year.
