MOSCOW, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- Designers are hoping to create new uniforms for Russian cosmonauts, but former spy Anna Chapman is not among them, Russian space officials said.
Chapman, 28, dubbed the "hot Russian spy" in world media reports, was arrested in New York last June as an alleged member of a Russian spy ring and then deported to Russia as part of a prisoner exchange.
Chapman has become a celebrity since her return to Russia, hosting a television show and registering "Chapman" as a brand with the country's patent service, RIA Novosti reported Friday.
However, Russian space agency officials say despite some media reports, Chapman was not designing new uniforms for cosmonauts.
"A few groups [of designers] have moved from words to business independently, but Anna Chapman is not among them yet," Sergei Krikalyov of the Gagarin Astronaut Training Center said.
Chapman was awarded one of Russia's highest medals for espionage, and in late December she joined the ranks of the youth arm of Russia's ruling United Russia Party, Molodaya Gvardia (Young Guard), in an apparent attempt to launch a political career, RIA Novosti said.
