political news

Russia's 'spies' in the suburbs

Most of the 11 people accused by the US of spying for Russia appear to have led middle-class, all-American lives, pursuing businesses, setting up home in leafy surburbs, raising families.

Donald Heathfield (all names here are as given in the indictment) had convinced a business contact in the UK he was an "aggressive American entrepreneur".

Anna Chapman, the most glamorous of the 11, described herself in a YouTube video as a "start-up" specialist looking to connect young professionals in New York and Moscow, with a business pedigree acquired in the UK.

Moscow confirmed that at least some of the suspects were Russian citizens, but there were few immediate details from within Russia itself.

Here BBC News sketches in some of what is now known about the 11.

ANNA CHAPMAN

According to a profile put together by the Russian news website lenta.ru, she is a 28-year-old divorcee (nee Kushchenko), the daughter of a Russian diplomat, and received her higher education in Volgograd and Moscow.

She did not seek to conceal her Russian identity when she arrived in New York from Moscow in February 2010, saying she wanted to build up a recruitment agency targeting young professionals in both cities.

Before that, she said she had lived for five years in the UK, working in the financial sector.

Moving into an apartment within walking distance of Wall Street, she launched on social networks including LinkedIn and Facebook to develop business contacts and market her skills.

On her LinkedIn page, Chapman is listed as the chief executive officer of PropertyFinder Ltd, which maintains a website featuring property listings in Moscow, Spain, Bulgaria and other countries.

"Love launching innovative high-tech start-ups and building passionate teams to bring value into market," her LinkedIn summary says.

Among dozens of photos posted online is one of Ms Chapman posing with a glass of wine between two men at the Global Technology Symposium at Stanford University in March - an event that cost more than $1,000 to attend.

An acquaintance in New York's property market, David Hartman, described her as "pleasant, very professional, friendly".

"There's nothing too crazy about her that I knew of," he added.