This Thursday 1er August saw the largest prisoner exchange between Russia and the West since the 1980s. Among them were a couple of Russian spies and their two children who had no idea of the true identities of their parents.
Spies in Slovenia
Ludwig Gisch and Maria Rosa Mayer Munos, a quiet couple living in Slovenia, were arrested by the Slovenian authorities in 2022. They were in reality Artiom Viktorovich Dultsev and Anna Valerevna Dultsevahighly placed Russian spies. Living since 2017 with their two children in Ljubljana, the Slovenian capital. The parents claimed to be Argentinians and the two children had no idea of the truth. An investigation by the Wall Street Journal specifies that they were sleeper agents of the SVR, the Russian intelligence services. They created a fake story and then the mission began. Artem claimed to be Austrian, born in Namibia to an Argentinian mother while his wife Anna, played the role of a Mexican born in Greece. The couple moved to Argentina in 2012, got married and had two children. to obtain Argentinian nationality. They live a peaceful life for five years and raise their children as Argentinians to add weight to their story.
It was in 2017 that the spy mission truly began. In Slovenia, the couple is described as peaceful. The husband launches an IT company while his wife runs an online art gallery that justifies trips all over Europe. Meanwhile, both children think they are Argentinian and speak Spanish.
The truth comes to light
If the family settled in the Slovenian capital, it is for the proximity to the headquarters of the agency in charge of the European gas and electricity market, as the Wall Street Journal explains in its investigation. They had to find as much information as possible but also recruit other agents and liaise between Moscow and the spies in Europe. The Shengen space, of which Slovenia is a part, allowed the couple to travel throughout Europe, without fearing borders.
The two spies were arrested by the Slovenian authorities in December 2023. It was an intelligence agency which suspected the couple of illegal activities after a trip to Argentina to renew their passports. Slovenian police found several thousand euros in cash hidden in the fridge and spyware on Artiom Viktorovich Dultsev’s computer. They are arrested and the children who still do not know the truth are placed in a foster family during the trial. They were sentenced to one year and seven months in prison for espionage and falsification of documents. As part of the prisoner exchange between Russia and the West, the couple and their two children were deported to Russia. It was on the plane that the son and daughter, aged 8 and 11, learned their true identities. The family was welcomed by Vladimir Putin in person who greeted them with a “buenas noches”the so-called mother tongue of the two children.