They were in prison in the West. Now they’re celebrities in Russia.

The freed Russians — including Vadim Krasikov, a convicted assassin — now find themselves among a cohort of Russian spies, assassins and other state actors who have been greeted with a warm welcome by the Russian state and the wider public upon their return. Some have become celebrities, politicians and social media personalities. Here’s a look at a few of them.

Anna Chapman

Detained for: Participating in a Russian spy ring in the United States; pleaded guilty of failing to register as a foreign agent.

Current occupation: Content creator on social media.

Anna Chapman was arrested in 2010 for her participation in a Russian spy ring dubbed “the illegals” by the Department of Justice. As part of the plot, 10 Russian spies assumed false identities in the United States and regularly relayed information to their handlers over private WiFi networks and via flash drives. Then-Vice President Joe Biden told talk show host Jay Leno that the secret agents hadn’t achieved much in their time undercover: “The 10, they’ve been here a long time, but they hadn’t done much.”

Chapman was the first of the group to be apprehended after a years-long investigation by the FBI. Presenting herself as a real estate agent, Chapman communicated regularly with her handlers, though never in-person. When an FBI informant reached out with an unusual request — to meet face-to-face — Chapman contacted her father, a suspected former KBG agent, in Moscow. The FBI, fearing that her call to Moscow might undermine their investigation, arrested her and the nine other agents shortly thereafter.

Chapman’s youth — she was 28 years old when she was arrested — and her bright red hair made her the subject of cultural and media attention. During Biden’s talk show appearance, Leno asked the vice president: “Do we have any spies that hot?” Chapman spun her newfound attention into a TV hosting gig in Russia and a job as a columnist for the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, a role she lost over accusations of plagiarism.

In 2012, still riding the wave of celebrity, Chapman told a Politico reporter about her plans to release a science fiction cartoon starring a redheaded heroine and her desire to hire a ghostwriter to pen a book about business. By that time, she had already released a mobile poker app and had appeared as a runway model in at least two fashion shows. Production companies and Hollywood agents sought the rights to her story, Politico reported, though these plans were apparently scuppered by her plea, which forbade her from seeking to profit from her time as a spy in the United States.

Chapman maintains active social media accounts — particularly on Instagram and Telegram — where she posts photos, videos and political commentary.

Maria Butina

Detained for: Failing to register as a foreign agent.

Current occupation: Member of the State Duma.

Maria Butina was sentenced in April 2019 to 18 months in prison for acting as a foreign agent without registering as one. U.S. prosecutors argued that while she was “not a spy in the traditional sense,” she had taken actions in the United States on behalf of a Russian official to benefit Russia, “and those actions had the potential to damage the national security of the United States.”

Butina had flitted around conservative circles and events, apparently trying to get access to conservative politicians and infiltrate U.S. political groups. She sought to forge ties with the National Rifle Association, and asked then-candidate Donald Trump a question about his views on Russia at a 2015 town hall.

In October 2019, she was released from prison and deported to Russia.

Upon returning to her home country — she is from Siberia — she received an offer to work in the State Duma, a chamber of the Russian legislature. She was elected to the legislative body in 2021 and is a member of Putin’s United Russia party.

Butina has disputed that her position is a bone thrown from the Kremlin, telling the New York Times, “it’s not a reward.”

Before she was elected, she was still prominent in the Russian political psyche. In April 2021, she visited Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader who died this year under mysterious circumstances in a penal colony. Her visit was for a segment on RT, the government-funded news network formerly known as Russia Today.

Earlier this year, she debuted a propaganda film about women in wartime, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Viktor Bout

Detained for: Arms dealing and conspiracy to kill Americans.

Current occupation: Member of the Ulyanovsk Oblast legislative assembly.

Viktor Bout was convicted in a federal court in 2011 on charges relating to selling weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the insurgent guerrilla group in Colombia. The United States alleged the weapons were intended to be used to kill U.S. nationals.

Bout had been apprehended in Thailand in an elaborate operation after years living the high life of an arms dealer, reportedly inspiring the 2005 Nicolas Cage film “Lord of War.”

In 2022, he was freed as part of the last high-profile prisoner swap between Russia and the United States. In exchange for the United States releasing Bout, Russia freed U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, who had been incarcerated in Russia on drug charges related to possession of a small amount of hashish oil.

Last year, Bout won a seat in a regional legislature.

He commented publicly on this week’s swap, calling the Westerners and dissidents who Russia freed “garbage,” but saying that doing so was “worth it for our intelligence officers to return to their homeland.”

Bout, speaking on Solovyov Live, said the exchange of “scum and traitors of our society” for “heroes” was balanced.

Robyn Dixon, Mary Ilyushina, Adam Taylor and Claire Parker contributed to this report.