Report: Sexy Russian Spy Anna Chapman's Phone Call to Father Led to Arrests

(July 12) -- A panicked telephone call by Anna Chapman to her father in which she confessed she feared her spy cover might have been blown forced the FBI to cut short a lengthy surveillance operation and round up the Russian espionage network, The Washington Post reports.

The flame-haired spy apparently became suspicious after meeting an FBI informant posing as a Russian consular officer named "Roman" in New York on June 26. Roman handed her a fake passport and asked Chapman to sneak it to another spy. Because the task was far riskier than past jobs assigned by Moscow, she became suspicious, according to the Post, which cited U.S. law enforcement and intelligence sources.

Anna Chapman, seen in this undated photo from a Russian social networking site, is one of 10 accused spies sent to Russian in a swap last week.

Chapman then called her father and an unnamed friend in New York. Both advised her not to go through with the exchange.

Her father, Vasily Kushchenko, is a senior member of Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and -- according to intelligence sources cited by the Post -- an ex-KGB officer. He advised her to take the fake passport to New York police and tell them what had happened. She was arrested after handing police the document on June 27.

Around the time, the FBI were also worried they might be about to lose New Jersey-based spy Richard Murphy -- real name Vladimir Guryev, husband of fellow spy Lydia Guryev -- who was set to fly to Russia for a meeting. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told CBS TV on Sunday that the FBI swooped in as "one of the husbands of one of the couples was in the process of going to France and then on his way to Russia and the concern was that if we let him go, we would not be able to get him back."

Read more at The Washington Post.