U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden, who turned down President Vladimir Putin’s offer to stay in Russia on condition he stops “harming” America, has received a better offer – an unconditional proposal of marriage from Russian ex-spy celebrity Anna Chapman.
“Snowden, will you marry me?” Ms. Chapman tweeted on Wednesday in English.
Ms. Chapman was part of a Russian sleeper cell in the U.S. busted by the FBI in 2010. She and nine other members of the spy ring were subsequently exchanged for convicted U.S. agents in Russia. After returning to Russia Ms. Chapman has worked as a model, a TV host, and a promotional face of a Russian bank.
As the ex-National Security Agency analyst mulled the proposal, someone named @nsa twitted to Ms. Chapman:
“We can be the witnesses!”
“@nsa will you look after our children?” she shot back.
Mr. Snowden has been stranded at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport with his U.S. passport cancelled for more than 10 days, looking for a country that would give him political asylum.
The 30-year-old computer systems administrator left behind in Hawaii a fiancé. Ms. Chapman, 31, was married to a British engineer, but they separated before she embarked on her spy mission in the U.S.
A Russian tabloid daily said the two would make a perfect couple: a former U.S. secret service contractor on the run from the U.S. government, which has charged him with espionage and a former Russian spy deported from the U.S.
However, the paper lamented, Mr. Snowden and Ms. Chapman cannot tie the knot because he has no valid passport.
