Putin greets children of spies who didn’t know they were Russians

The Kremlin says two sons of Russian agents who returned to Moscow on Aug. 1 as part of a major prisoner exchange with the West did not know they were Russian until they boarded a flight leaving Slovenia, according to the Kremlin. reports..

The children’s parents, Artem Dultsev and Anna Dultseva, were condemned of espionage by a Slovenian court just one day earlier. The couple were posing as Argentines.

The children don’t speak Russian either, so the President Vladimir Putin greeted them in Spanish when they disembarked the plane, said Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov.

Footage released by the Kremlin shows Putin saying “buenas noches” to the two children – Spanish for “good night” – after hugging Anna Dultseva and handing her flowers.

Peskov also confirmed that the couple worked for Russian intelligence and said their children learned of their parents’ ties to Russia during the flight, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberdade. Credit: Russian Government via Storyful