Russian state oil firm denies hiring spy
Russian state-owned pipeline operator Transneft has denied reports that it hired a member of the Russian spy ring uncovered in the United States in June, a spokesman said on Wednesday.
The statement follows a report by the Kommersant newspaper that Natalia Pereverzeva, a.k.a. Patricia Mills, was made an aide to Transneft`s president.
"We don`t have any aide by this first and last name," spokesman Igor Dyomin said.
The "illegals" - as the agents are called - were sent back to Russia in July in return for four U.S. spies in the biggest spy swap since the Cold War. They received unspecified state honors from President Dmitry Medvedev in October.
Andrei Bezrukov, a.k.a. Donald Heathfield, another member of the spy ring, was appointed advisor to the director of Russian oil giant Rosneft in October.
But it is Anna Chapman, the glamorous femme fatale of the group, who has been getting the most attention.
She is now leader of Molodaya Gvardiya (Young Guard), the youth wing of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin`s United Russia party.
Chapman has made the headlines several times since she was deported in July, posing for Russian men`s magazines and becoming a representative of a Moscow bank.
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