Their parents, Artem Dultsev and Anna Dultseva, were among 24 prisoners swapped as part of a complex, multi-country deal.
The pair had been posing as an Argentine couple in Slovenia where they were convicted of spying.The children of two Russian intelligence agents, who were among the detainees released as part of a historic prisoner swap, only discovered their nationality when they were being flown to Moscow, the Kremlin said Friday. The boy and girl "found out that they were Russian only when the plane took off from Ankara," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.
"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. After coming down the plane's stairs, Dultseva, holding her tears, hugged Putin, who was standing on the red carpet rolled on the tarmac holding bouquets of flowers.Putin briefly hugged Dultsev too and then the rest of the released Russians, before the group walked together on the red carpet away from the plane.
A total of eight people, including Krasikov, were swapped back to Russia in exchange for the release of 16 people who were held in Russian detention, including former US Marine Paul Whelan, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and two other Americans.
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