Russian spies' children discovered their nationality during flight to Moscow: Kremlin
Russia's President Vladimir Putin welcomes Russian citizens released in a major prisoner swap
New revelations about the historic prisoner swap between US and Russia have surfaced.
The Kremlin confirmed that some of the freed Russians were intelligence agents, and the children of a Russian spy couple were unaware of their true identity until theyreached home.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that a detained couple released in Slovenia —Artem and Anna Dultsev— were undercover intelligence officers, known as 'illegals'.
Posing as Argentine residents, they were operating from Ljubljana, which was their base since 2017 to relay Moscow's orders to other sleeper agents. Theywere arrested on espionage charges in 2022.
Also read:Freed Americans return home following historic prisoner swap; Biden, Harris greet them at airport
Their two children joined them as they flew to Moscow's Vnukovo Airport from Ankara, Turkey, where the mass exchange occurred. The children don't speak Russian, and only learned their parents were Russian during the flight, Peskov said.
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The children also didn't know who President Vladimir Putin was, as they asked who is it greeting them," Peskov added.
"That's how illegals work, and that's the kind of sacrifices they make because of their dedication to their work," Peskov further said.
It may be mentioned here, a total of 24 prisoners were involved in Thursday's (Aug 1) historic swap —and a total of 26 people, including the spy couple's kids, changed planes on the tarmac in Ankara.
While the US journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva and former Marine Paul Whelan were greeted by their families and President Joe Biden, VP Kamala Harris in Maryland on Thursday night.
Putin embraced each of the Russian returnees at the airport and promised them state awards.
The large-scale exchange occurs less than two years after WNBA star Brittney Griner was traded for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, known as the "Merchant of Death," at an airport in Abu Dhabi.
Griner was arrested in 2022 at a Moscow airport when vape canisters containing cannabis oil were found in her bags. She was sentenced to nine years in prison on drug charges.
Also read:Biden hails release of Gershkovich, Whelan and Kurmasheva from Russia: ‘Brutal ordeal is over’
While Bout, arrested in 2008, was serving a 25-year prison sentence in US for conspiring to sell weapons to individuals intending to kill Americans.
(With inputs from agencies)