Anna Chapman, Russian spy, 'to lead youth wing of Putin's United Russia party'

Anna Chapman, one of the ten Russian spies arrested by the FBI in June on charges of spying for Russia, will soon be appointed to lead a youth wing of Vladimir Putin's United Russia political party, the Telegraph-uk reported on Tuesday.

Miss Chapman's role in the pro-Putin youth organization will involve working with "patriots and young businesspeople", a source in the organization told Russian media.

Mr. Putin met with the ten spies, upon their return to Russia in July, and sang "patriotic" songs with them:

“We talked about life. We sang. It was not karaoke but live music,” said Putin. "We sang From Where the Motherland Begins..."

“I’m not joking," he said, "I’m serious. And [we sang] other songs with a similar content."

The spies have been lampooned in the West as incompetents, but Mr Putin portrayed them as brave people doing difficult jobs for the motherland.

Just imagine,” he said. “You need to master a language like your mother tongue. You need to think in it, speak in it.

“You need to fulfill the task set in the interests of your motherland for many many years, not counting on diplomatic cover, expose yourself and your loved ones to danger.”

The ten would now be found “worthy” jobs in Russia and lead interesting lives, he predicted. He also said that the spies had been betrayed, hinting darkly that he knew the betrayers’ names.

According to CBS News "Putin warned that the "traitors" who exposed [the spies] could end up "in a ditch."

Meanwhile, President Obama has yet to announce whether he'll meet with the Russian Prime Minister and Ms. Chapman, and join them in singing a few patriotic songs in honor of the "Motherland" - as part of his efforts to reset US/Russian ties. Failure to ratify the new START treaty, however, would likely scuttle any such plans - which, undoubtedly, is the impetus behind Obama's rush to ratify the treaty. If the new START treaty is ultimately ratified by congress, both Mr. Putin and Ms. Chapman would have little choice but to allow Mr. Obama to sing along with them.

A brilliant strategy on Obama's part, indeed!

It should be noted, though, that President Obama is still not fluent in the Russian language, which would make it difficult for him to sing the lyrics of "Where the Motherland Begins". However, that would not prevent him from singing the melody while Mr. Putin and the Russian spy belt out the lyrics. It would be a grandiose way to START [pun intended] off the new relationship.

I can't wait!