Russian spies lived quiet life in Slovenia until they were detained

SARAJEVO – Maria Rosa Mayer Munos and her husband Ludwig Gisch were an Argentine couple who had been living in Slovenia’s capital since 2017, each running a company and leading a quiet life in a quiet neighbourhood with their two children.

This turned out to be a complete facade, exposed when the secret police broke into their home in Ljubljana in early December 2022 and detained the duo, identifying them as Russian sleeper agents Artem Dultsev and Anna Dultseva.

The Slovenian Security and Intelligence Agency found them based on a tip from a foreign intelligence agency, Mr Vojko Volk, state secretary in the Prime Minister’s Cabinet, said on Aug 2. He did not say which country’s agency that was.

The pair spent nearly 20 months in detention.

In a hastily arranged secret trial on July 31, a Slovenian court sentenced the couple to one year and seven months in prison after they pleaded guilty to charges of espionage and using fake identities.

The duo had already served their time and so would be deported and banned from entering Slovenia for five years, the Ljubljana district court said on its website. It did not say when the two Russians would be deported.

The next day, it became clear.

On Aug 1, the couple and their children were flown to Moscow as part of the biggest swop of Western and Russian prisoners since the Cold War.

They were welcomed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who warmly hugged Mrs Dultseva and presented her with flowers.

Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob was proud that his country of around two million people had played a part in the swop, telling a news conference in Ljubljana on Aug 2: “Slovenia has thrived in historical times. With this, Slovenia once again proved that the power we have on the international scene is significantly greater than our size.”

Personal trust between leaders is crucial in such secretive situations, he said, adding that US President Joe Biden had called on Aug 1 to thank him personally and the Slovenian nation “for this key contribution to saving innocent lives from Russian prisons”.

Early secret talks with Russia

Mr Volk said talks on the spies being part of an exchange began soon after they were arrested.

“For a year, talks about this were held with the Russian side in complete secrecy,” he told reporters. 

Talks on the exchange of prisoners, in which Germany would also be included, were also held with US Vice-President Kamala Harris on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in February, Mr Volk said.

The spy couple have a daughter and son, aged 11 and eight, according to the Slovenian media.

The parents led their double life so completely that the children learnt they were Russian only after the flight took off, the Kremlin said on Aug 2, adding that the children did not speak Russian and did not know who Mr Putin was.

“This is how the ‘illegals’ work. They make such sacrifices out of dedication to their work,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

The children were put in foster care after their parents’ detention but continued attending an international school in Ljubljana, according to Slovenian media reports.

The Slovenian Security and Intelligence Agency describes in its documents that in the Russian intelligence apparatus, “illegals” are spies who first train for years in their homeland, then leave Russia and must give up contact with their family members so that nothing connects them to Russia. REUTERS