Russian spy Anna Chapman is stripped of UK citizenship

Russian spy Anna Chapman was married to a British man

Anna Chapman, one of the Russian spies deported from the United States, has been deprived of her British citizenship, the BBC understands.

She is expected to be "formally excluded" within the next few hours, meaning she cannot travel to the UK.

She was among 10 Russians arrested in the US who admitted to being agents for a foreign country.

Last week her lawyer said she would like to come to the UK as she has a UK passport through a previous marriage.

Russia agreed to exchange four US spies for the 10 Russian agents and the swap was carried out in Vienna on 9 July.

Ms Chapman, who is also known as Anya Kushchenko, worked in the financial sector for a few years after moving to London in 2002.

Earlier this month, Briton Alex Chapman, 30, from Bournemouth, Dorset, talked to a newspaper about his four-year marriage to the 28-year-old Russian.

He said they had met at a party in London in 2002 and married five months later.

'Ordinary citizens'

Following the Vienna spy swap, a UK Home Office spokesperson had said they were reviewing Ms Chapman's passport situation.

"The home secretary has the right to deprive dual nationals of their British citizenship where she considers that to do so would be conducive to the public good. This case is under urgent consideration," the spokesperson said.

Shadow home secretary Alan Johnson had said it "cannot be in our interests" to let Ms Chapman settle in the UK.

The 10 Russian agents had pleaded guilty in New York to "conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of a foreign country".

More serious money-laundering charges against them were dropped.

Prosecutors said the accused had posed as ordinary citizens, some living together as couples for years, and were ordered by Russia's External Intelligence Service (SVR) to infiltrate policy-making circles and collect information.