The kids of a Russian spy couple who returned house Thursday from the West within the largest prisoner trade with Russia for the reason that Chilly Warfare weren’t advised their nationality till on a flight to Moscow.
Artem Viktorovich Dultsev and Anna Valerevna Dultseva had been imprisoned in Slovenia whereas pretending to be a pair dwelling in Slovenia Asian Argentinian couple.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned the kids, who didn’t communicate Russian and didn’t know who President Vladimir Putin was, requested their mother and father who greeted them after they arrived.
A complete of 24 prisoners from seven totally different nations had been exchanged on Thursday.
Sixteen had been Western prisoners in Russian prisons and eight had been Russian prisoners in the USA, Norway, Germany, Poland and Slovenia. Amongst them is Wall Road Journal reporter Alvin Gershkovich.
The Russian household of 4 acquired a heat welcome, and Mrs. Durtseva and her daughter accepted flowers and heat embraces from President Putin.
“Buenas noches,” the president mentioned in Spanish as he greeted the spies’ youngsters.
In line with Argentine media studies, the couple, named María Mayer and Ludwig Gisch, arrived in Slovenia in 2017 with Argentine passports.
The husband based a brand new IT firm beneath his pseudonym, and the spouse owns a web-based artwork gallery.
The household was primarily based in Ljubljana till 2022, when the couple was arrested by Slovenian police on espionage prices.
Forward of the huge prisoner swap, Mr Durtsev and Mrs Durtseva had been every sentenced to 19 months in jail on Wednesday after pleading responsible to espionage prices. However in response to the Related Press, given their arrest in 2022, they had been launched on time and ordered to depart Slovenia.
It was solely on Thursday that Kremlin spies and their youngsters had been returned to Russia as a part of an enormous prisoner trade between Russia and the West.
The Kremlin mentioned the lives of 11-year-old Sofia and 8-year-old Gabriel modified eternally after they discovered they had been Russians when the aircraft flew from Ankara to Vnukovo Airport.
“The kids of the undercover brokers requested their mother and father who greeted them yesterday,” Peskov mentioned, including: “They did not even know who Putin was.”
A Kremlin spokesman mentioned that is how undercover brokers work and “make such sacrifices for the sake of their work and dedication to service”.
