Putin pledges bright future to former spies in U.S

"I have no doubts they will have interesting, bright lives," Putin, a former KGB agent, told reporters during a working visit to Ukraine.

Ten people pleaded guilty this month to being agents for Russia while living undercover in the United States in one of the biggest spy scandals since the Cold War.

They were deported to Russia, which in turn agreed to release four people imprisoned for suspected contact with Western intelligence agencies.

Among the group Putin met was Anna Chapman, a 28-year-old who ran a $2 million real estate business, who was stripped of her British citizenship following her deportation from the United States. She married a Briton in 2002 but later divorced.

Putin, who served as a KGB agent in East Germany during the Soviet era, did not say where he met the spies but said they sang together Soviet songs and he told them he admired what they did.