The children of the spies did not know they were Russian. – Today

The children of a Russian spy couple returned home Thursday in the largest prisoner swap between the West and Russia since the Cold War, without discovering their nationality until they were on a flight to Moscow. Artem Viktorovich Dultsev and Anna Valerevna Dultseva were held captive in Slovenia while posing as an Argentine couple living there. The children, who do not speak Russian and do not know who President Vladimir Putin is, asked their parents who greeted them when they arrived, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. A total of 24 prisoners in seven different countries were swapped Thursday. Sixteen were Western prisoners held in Russian prisons, and eight were Russian prisoners held in the United States, Norway, Germany, Poland and Slovenia. Among them was Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkov.The Russian family of four received a warm welcome, with Ms. Durtseva and her daughter receiving flowers and a warm hug from President Putin. “Good evening,” the president said to the spy’s children, greeting them in Spanish. According to Argentine media reports, the couple, named María Mayer and Ludwig Gisch, arrived in Slovenia in 2017 on Argentine passports. The husband founded a technology company under a pseudonym and the wife ran an online art gallery. The family was based in Ljubljana until 2022, when the couple was arrested by Slovenian police on espionage charges. Before the mass prisoner swap, Mr. Durtsev and Ms. Durtseva were each sentenced to 19 months in prison after pleading guilty to espionage charges on Wednesday. But since their arrest in 2022, they have served their sentences and have been ordered to leave Slovenia, according to the Associated Press. It was not until Thursday that the Kremlin spies and their children returned to Russia during a mass prisoner swap between Russia and the West. The Kremlin said life had changed for Sofia, 11, and Gabriel, 8, who were born in Argentina, when they discovered they were Russian when the plane flew from Ankara to Vnukovo airport. “The children of the undercover agents asked their parents yesterday who greeted them,” Peskov said, adding: “They didn’t even know who Putin was.” A Kremlin spokesman said this was how undercover (or “illegal”) agents work, “making such sacrifices for their work and dedication.” Unlike “legal” spies who are sent abroad under diplomatic or official cover, illegal spies are alone, work a normal job, live in the suburbs and do not have the diplomatic immunity other agents enjoy in case of arrest.