Yahoo TV

STORY: :: Children of deep-cover agents returned to Moscow in a prisoner swap did not know they were Russian

:: August 1, 2024

:: Moscow, Russia

:: Their parents, Artem and Anna Dultsev, were convicted of spying in Slovenia while claiming to be Argentinian

:: Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin Spokesman

:: August 2, 2024

:: "The children of the 'illegals', of the intelligence officers, who arrived yesterday learned that they were Russian only when the plane took off from Ankara (to Moscow). Before that, they did not know that they were Russian and that they had anything to do with our country. And you probably saw when the children came down the steps of the plane, they did not speak Russian and Putin greeted them in Spanish, he said 'Buenas noches', you can hear it in the video that was shot.”

Dmityr Peskov confirmed the couple were "illegals" or deep-cover agents trained to impersonate foreigners, who spend years living abroad with fake identities.

A court in Slovenia had convicted the parents of pretending to be Argentinians in order to spy on the EU and NATO member state.

Their return to Moscow on Thursday (August 1) and welcome led by President Vladimir Putin was shown on Russian TV.