The youngsters of a Russian spy couple who returned dwelling on Thursday after the most important prisoner swap between the West and Russia for the reason that Chilly Struggle solely came upon their nationality on the flight to Moscow.
Artem Viktorovich Dultsev and Anna Valerevna Dultseva have been posing as an Argentine couple dwelling in Slovenia after they have been jailed there.
Their youngsters don’t communicate a phrase of Russian and didn’t know who President Vladimir Putin was, asking their dad and mom who was greeting them upon their arrival, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated.
In complete, 24 folks jailed in seven completely different international locations have been exchanged on Thursday.
Sixteen have been Western prisoners detained in Russian jails and eight have been Russian prisoners held within the US, Norway, Germany, Poland and Slovenia. Amongst them was Wall Road Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
The Russian household of 4 have been warmly welcomed, with Mrs Dultseva and her daughter receiving flowers and a heat embrace from President Putin.
“Buenas noches,” the president stated to the spies’ youngsters, as he greeted them in Spanish.
As reported by Argentinian media, the couple have been often called María Mayer and Ludwig Gisch and arrived in Slovenia sporting their Argentinian passports in 2017.
The husband arrange a start-up IT firm beneath his alias title and the spouse had a web-based artwork gallery.
The household used Ljubljana as their base and it was not till 2022 that the couple have been arrested by Slovenian police on espionage fees.
Forward of the massive scale prisoner swap, Mr Dultsev and Mrs Dultseva have been sentenced to 19 months in jail every, after pleading responsible to spying fees on Wednesday. However given their arrests in 2022, they have been launched on time served and ordered to go away Slovenia, as reported by the Related Press.
It was not till Thursday, throughout the giant scale Russia-West prisoner swap, that the Kremlin spies, and their youngsters, have been returned to Russia.
Life for 11-year-old Sofia and 8-year-old Gabriel modified thereafter they usually solely learnt they have been Russian when the airplane set off from Ankara to Vnukovo Airport, the Kremlin stated.
“The youngsters of the undercover brokers requested their dad and mom yesterday who had greeted them,” Mr Peskov stated, including: “They didn’t even know who Putin is.”
The Kremlin spokesman stated that’s how undercover brokers work, “making such sacrifices for the sake of their work and their dedication to their service”.