Much like the script of a film, young Sofia and Daniel had no clue about their parents being undercover Russian spies pretending to be Argentine expats in Slovenia. The children were able to discover their nationality only when they were flown to Moscow, the Kremlin said. The parents -- Artem Dultsev and Anna Dultseva -- were among the 24 prisoners who were released as part of the landmark prisoner swap deal.
Artem Dultsev and Anna Dultseva were posing as an Argentine couple in Slovenia and were later convicted of spying. Their two children -- Sofia, 11, and Daniel, 8 -- accompanied them to Moscow on Thursday from Turkey, CNN reported.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the children “found out that they were Russian only when the plane took off from Ankara”.
Interestingly, as soon as they landed in Moscow they were greeted by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the tarmac in Spanish since they did not speak Russian. They also were unaware of who Putin was, Peskov noted.
“When the children came down the plane's steps – they don't speak Russian – and Putin greeted them in Spanish, he said ‘Buenas noches',” Peskov said.
He added that later on the children asked their parents who had greeted them as they didn't even know who Putin was.
As the family came down from the aircraft's stairs, Anna, while holding her tears, hugged the Russian President, who stood on the red 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.
Further, he greeted the rest of the released Russians and later on they walked together on the red carpet away from the plane.
The historic swap came as a result of years of behind-the-scenes negotiations that involved the US, Russia, Belarus and Germany. This ultimately led Berlin to agree to Moscow's key demand – release convicted Russian assassin Vadim Krasikov.
As per reports, a total of eight people, including Krasikov, have been sent back to Russia in exchange for 16 people, who were in detention in Russia, including former US Marine Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, and two other Americans.
On Wednesday, both Dultsev and Dultseva had pleaded guilty to espionage at a Ljubljana court. They were sentenced to serve time in prison.
Dultsev, who lived undercover in Slovenia, was posing as an IT businessman named Ludvig Gisch. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to over a year and a half in prison.
Dultseva, on the other hand, was posing as an art dealer and gallery owner named Maria Rosa Mayer Munos. Both of them were set to be deported.