The alleged literary crime has been seized upon by her detractors inside Russia who have been irritated by the high media profile she has carved out for herself since being expelled from the United States for spying last year.

The redhead was arrested in June last year and expelled with nine others in the biggest spy swap since the Cold War earning her instant international fame and notoriety.

The article she is accused of plagiarising appeared in the mass market Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid last weekend and was about Alexander Pushkin, Miss Chapman's favourite poet.