Who're 'illegals'? Russian spies who might be living next door
What's the story
The largest prisoner swap since the Cold War took place on Friday.
Twenty-four prisoners were released as part of a complex prisoner swap between Russia, the United States, and other Western nations.
Of the 24, 16 were moved from Russia to the West, while eight were returned to Russia.
Among the Russians who were released were Artem and Anna Dultsev, and their two children.
The Dultsevas had been posing as an Argentine couple in Slovenia before their arrest.
Hidden identities
Dultsevs's double life as Argentinian nationals unveiled
Artem ran a startup IT company under the pseudonym Ludwig Gisch, while Anna operated an online art gallery as Maria Rosa Mayer Munos.
They were later found to be agents of Russia's foreign intelligence service (SVR)and were arrested in 2022 on espionage charges.
At a press briefing, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the Dultsevs were "illegals" or agents trained to impersonate foreigners and live abroad within their fabricated identities for years.
Double life
Spies lead normal lives
These illegals are spread all over Europe and even the US.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) became aware of this information in 2020.
According to FBI officials, the spies were trained in Russia to blend into regular American life by marrying, finding jobs, and establishing families, all while transmitting encoded signals home.
For over a decade, FBI investigators bugged the spies' residences, tracked their movements, and eventually penetrated their covert communications network.
Spy
Russian spy tried to infiltrate ICC
In 2022, the Netherlands reported that a Russian agent attempted to infiltrate the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The man went by the name Viktor Muller Ferreira and claimed to be Brazilian, but he was denied entry as he arrived to begin employment in the Netherlands.
Authorities say his real name is Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov, a spy for the GRU—Russian military intelligence.
He is believed to have spent years creating a fake identity before applying for an internship at the ICC.
Another couple
Spy couple arrested in 2010
Similarly, a Russian woman posed as a Canadian woman named Tracy Foley for two decades.
Almost no one, even her own children, knew of her true identity.
Elena Vavilova was an "illegal," a deep-cover Russian operative deployed to the west together with her spouse Andrei Bezrukov, who went by Donald Heathfield.
Vavilova and Bezrukov were arrested at their Boston home in 2010. They were part of a group of 10 Russian spies detained by the FBI.
Unexpected discovery
Children unaware of Russian roots until mid-flight
Like the children of most spy parents, the children of newly-released Artem and Anna Dultseva only learned of their Russian heritage after the plane took off for Moscow from Ankara.
They also had no idea who President Vladimir Putin was, "asking who is it greeting them," Peskov said.
"That's how illegals work...that's the sacrifices they make because of their dedication to their work," he added.
Putin welcomed the Russians as "a tribute to the people who had served their country."