Russian spies lived a quiet life in Slovenia until they were detained

By Daria Sito-Sucic

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Maria Rosa Mayer Munos and her husband Ludwig Gisch were an Argentine couple who had lived in the Slovenian capital since 2017, each running a company and leading a quiet life in a quiet neighborhood with their two children.

That 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 Artyom Dultsev and Anna Dultseva.

The Slovenian Security and Intelligence Agency found them based on a tip from a foreign intelligence agency, Vojko Volk, state secretary in the prime minister's cabinet, said on Friday. 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 Wednesday, a Slovenian court sentenced the Dultsevs 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 the 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 Thursday, the Dultsevs and their children were flown to Moscow as part of the biggest swap of Western and Russian prisoners since the Cold War.

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

Prime Minister Robert Golob was proud his country of around 2 million people had played a part in the swap, telling a news conference in Ljubljana on Friday:

"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, Golob said, adding that U.S. President Joseph Biden had called on Thursday to thank him personally and the Slovenian nation "for this key contribution to saving innocent lives from Russian prisons".

EARLY SECRET TALKS WITH RUSSIA

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 U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in February, Volk said.

The Dultsevs have a girl and boy aged 11 and 8 according to Slovenian media.

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

"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 described in its documents how 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.

(Additional reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Frances Kerry)