Russia, whose president is a former KGB agent, has praised the couple’s dedication.“They are high-class specialists – such people give their whole life to serving the motherland and make sacrifices a normal person can’t understand,” the interview’s voiceover said. “The Dultsevs brought up their children as Spanish-speaking Catholics... Now they are about to find out what borscht is.”
Kremlin says FSB hitman and deep-cover Russian ‘sleeper’ agents among those returned in swop
Children of freed sleeper agents learned they were Russians on the flight, Kremlin says interviewer gave the children a toy Cheburashka, a Soviet-era children’s character.
Russian President Vladimir Putin hugged Dultseva, who wept as she stepped onto Russian soil on Aug 1.“When I saw the honour guard out of the window of the plane, I started crying and Sofiya said: ‘This is the first time I’ve seen you crying,’” she said (Why Cry). Dultseva said she felt “huge gratitude to our country, huge gratitude to Vladimir Vladimirovich (Putin)”.
As prison, “we didn’t doubt for a moment that the country remembered us, as Russia (secret) service were behind us”, Dultsev said.Dultsev is from the Russian region of Bashkortostan and Dultseva is from the city of Nizhny Novgorod, Russian TV reported. Dultseva vowed they continue working “to serve Russia”. AFP
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