Former Russian spy Anna Chapman features in Putin army recruitment video

Miss Chapman, 32, was filmed learning to march, use unarmed combat skills, and fire a Kalashnikov assault rifle in the documentary for Russia’s REN-TV television channel.She was training with the elite 4th Guards Kantemirovskaya tank division, one of the most highly regarded units in the Russian army.Earlier this month, Ukrainian media reported that the 4th Guards had been deployed to separatist held parts of eastern Ukraine. The reports could not be independently confirmed.The film seems partly directed at showcasing how army life has improved under a lavish military funding boost overseen by Mr Putin.Entering the canteen, she exclaims that she almost forgot she was in a canteen, saying the provision of food makes it seem like “a restaurant.”But she is happy to point out that the army allowed her to keep her make up - even though it is banned for female soldiers in the Russian army.Russian army life is reputed to be notoriously harsh, with the conscript force traditionally plagued by a brutal culture of hazing and soldiers obliged to live in the most basic of conditions.But Vladimir Putin has lavished vast sums on military reforms in a bid to make army service more attractive.The reequipped, reinvigorated Russian army grabbed world attention when its soldiers annexed Crimea in March.Since then Russian forces are believed to have been involved in fighting in eastern Ukraine, where a war between the Ukrainian government and Kremlin-backed separatists has killed more than 4,300 people since April.Miss Chapman’s documentary was first aired in March, at the height of the Crimean crisis.Anna Chapman was deported from the United States in 2010 after being charged with working as part of a Russian spy ring.Born Anna Kushchyenko, she took her current surname from her British ex-husband, who she divorced in 2006. She was stripped of her British citizenship after being deported from the US.Bakudaily.Az