Russian spy Anna Chapman fronts mystery TV show

Anna Chapman, the red-headed Russian spy famously expelled from the US last summer, has made her debut on a mystery show for Russian TV.

But the first edition of "Mysteries of the World With Anna Chapman" suggested the CIA's secrets were safe, at least for now.

Ms Chapman reported on a baby in Dagestan with skin marks said to resemble Koranic verses.

Since her expulsion, the agent has enjoyed celebrity status in Russia.

The 28-year-old, who has not publicly discussed her role as a spy, was given a senior post in a youth organization of the ruling United Russia party and a consultancy position with an investment bank.

Capitalizing on her US media image as a "femme fatale", she posed for the Russian edition of men's magazine Maxim.

At 2200 (1900 GMT) on Friday, she presented her new show on Russian commercial television channel Ren TV.

She did not report from Dagestan itself, but from a mosque in Moscow, her famous red hair peeping out from under a white Islamic headscarf.

A trailer for the show had asked why the "miracle child" was being hidden "from everyone by his parents", who stood to lose out, and why was an "oligarch" building a house for him.

"I nearly understand what's going on," said Ms Chapman, at one point.

In the autumn of 2009, it was reported that thousands of Muslim pilgrims were flocking to Dagestan, a republic in Russia's North Caucasus region, to see "miracle baby" Ali Yakubov, on whose skin verses from the Koran seemed to appear and disappear every few days.

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