Putin greeted children of freed sleeper agents in Spanish as they had only discovered they were Russian on the flight to Moscow, Kremlin says

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• Putin greeted the children of Russian sleeper agents in Spanish as they landed in Moscow as part of a prisoner exchange.
• The children had only just learned they were Russian on the flight, a Kremlin spokesperson said.
• Their parents had been arrested in Slovenia after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin greeted the children of two Russian sleeper agents in Spanish as they landed in Moscow following a recent prisoner exchange between Russia and the West.

The children had only just learned they were Russian on the flight home and could not speak the language, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters, Russia's Tass news agency reported.

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"The children of the sleeper agents who flew in yesterday learned that they were Russian only when the plane took off from Ankara," Peskov said.

"When the children came down the airplane ramp — they don't speak Russian — Putin greeted them in Spanish, he said 'Buenas noches,'" he added.

A video shared on X by the Financial Times' Max Seddon shows the interaction.

The children of Anna and Artem Dultsev, the Russian deep cover spies returned home as part of the prisoner exchange, didn’t know they were Russian until their plane took off for Moscow for the swap, the Kremlin says. They don’t speak Russian, so Putin greeted them in Spanish. pic.twitter.com/YIGX7uNupg

— max seddon (@maxseddon) August 2, 2024

The children's parents, Artem Dultsev and Anna Dultseva, were freed as part of a prisoner exchange that also involved The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

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The couple had been convicted by a Slovenian court of pretending to be Argentinians to carry out espionage.

The pair posed as Ludwig Gisch and Maria Mayer and spoke to their children in Spanish, the Guardian reported.

They had arrived in Slovenia on Argentine passports in 2017 and were arrested after the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Tass reported. Their children, a boy and a girl, were placed in foster care, the report said.

The couple pleaded guilty to spying charges and were sentenced on July 31 — a day before the exchange — to 19 months in prison each by a court in Ljubljana.

Twenty-four people were involved in Thursday's prisoner exchange.

Alongside Gershkovich, Russia also released former US marine Paul Whelan and opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza.