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Former Russian spy Anna Chapman has proposed marriage to Edward Snowden, the U.S. National Security Agency whistleblower.
Chapman’s proposal to Snowden came via Twitter in what could be read as a tongue-in-cheek publicity stunt.
“Snowden, will you marry me?!” Chapman tweeted.
The tweet came after Snowden had turned down an offer of asylum in Russia, refusing because he did not wish to be bound by a condition President Vladimir Putin stipulated that he stop harming American interests.
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Snowden fled the U.S. to Hong Kong last month, where he revealed details of a mass international electronic eavesdropping operation by the NSA before flying to Russia.
For the past two weeks he has been trapped in a legal and diplomatic limbo at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport.
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Accompanied by Sarah Harrison, a legal minder provided by Wikileaks — whose founder, Julian Assange, last year took refuge in Ecuador’s embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden where he is charged with rape — Snowden has been writing dozens of appeals to countries worldwide requesting asylum.
He fears that if he is forcibly returned to America he could face life imprisonment for his exposure of top secret details of America’s worldwide electronic spying operation that allegedly has accessed the e-mails, phone calls and online communications of people around the globe.
Chapman, the daughter of a senior KGB agent who was exposed as a long-term “sleeper” agent, part of a ring of Russian spies in America, and deported in the summer of 2010, has used her beauty and notoriety to forge a lucrative career as a catwalk model and minor Moscow celebrity.
She posed for a raunchy cover spread in the Russian version of men’s magazine Maxim, clad in lacy underwear with a pistol provocatively held aloft. She’s also appeared in a skin-tight leather ensemble at Moscow Fashion Week, edited a magazine, lectured and now runs a foundation.
The stunning red head was seen June 20 on the red carpet at the opening of the Moscow International Film Festival wearing a figure-hugging strapless black velvet gown.
Snowden, who left behind pole-dancing girlfriend Lindsay Mills when he fled Hawaii, has not known to have responded to the marriage proposal, although a Twitter user under #NSA responded to say: “We can be the witnesses!” to which Chapman answered: “Will you look after our children?”
“We’ll send our finest drones,” was the droll response.
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