Very similar to the script of a movie, younger Sofia and Daniel had no clue about their dad and mom being undercover Russian spies pretending to be Argentine expats in Slovenia. The kids had been capable of uncover their nationality solely after they had been flown to Moscow, the Kremlin mentioned. The dad and mom — Artem Dultsev and Anna Dultseva — had been among the many 24 prisoners who had been launched as a part of the landmark prisoner swap deal.
Artem Dultsev and Anna Dultseva had been posing as an Argentine couple in Slovenia and had been later convicted of spying. Their two kids — Sofia, 11, and Daniel, 8 — accompanied them to Moscow on Thursday from Turkey, CNN reported.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned the youngsters “came upon that they had been Russian solely when the aircraft took off from Ankara”.
Curiously, as quickly as they landed in Moscow they had been greeted by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the tarmac in Spanish since they didn’t converse Russian. In addition they had been unaware of who Putin was, Peskov famous.
“When the youngsters got here down the aircraft’s steps – they do not converse Russian – and Putin greeted them in Spanish, he mentioned ‘Buenas noches’,” Peskov mentioned.
He added that afterward the youngsters requested their dad and mom who had greeted them as they did not even know who Putin was.
Because the household got here down from the plane’s stairs, Anna, whereas holding her tears, hugged the Russian President, who stood on the purple carpet rolled on the tarmac holding bouquets of flowers.
Putin greeted her with a kiss on the cheek and shoulder, and even gave her and her daughter bouquets.
Additional, he greeted the remainder of the launched Russians and afterward they walked collectively on the purple carpet away from the aircraft.
The historic swap got here because of years of behind-the-scenes negotiations that concerned the US, Russia, Belarus and Germany. This in the end led Berlin to comply with Moscow’s key demand – launch convicted Russian murderer Vadim Krasikov.
As per experiences, a complete of eight individuals, together with Krasikov, have been despatched again to Russia in trade for 16 individuals, who had been in detention in Russia, together with former US Marine Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Road Journal reporter, and two different Individuals.
On Wednesday, each Dultsev and Dultseva had pleaded responsible to espionage at a Ljubljana courtroom. They had been sentenced to serve time in jail.
Dultsev, who lived undercover in Slovenia, was posing as an IT businessman named Ludvig Gisch. He pleaded responsible and was sentenced to over a 12 months and a half in jail.
Dultseva, alternatively, was posing as an artwork vendor and gallery proprietor named Maria Rosa Mayer Munos. Each of them had been set to be deported.
