A video of Russian President Vladimir Putin warmly greeting a family of sleeper agents recently released from captivity has gone viral, capturing the attention of social media users worldwide. The footage shows Putin welcoming the family members—who were unaware of their Russian origins until they were en route to Moscow—on the tarmac.
In the clip shared by the Daily Mail on Instagram, Putin can be seen greeting the children of Artem Dultsev and Anna Dultseva. The Dultsevs, who had been posing as an Argentine couple in Slovenia, were convicted of espionage but have now been released following a major East-West prisoner exchange, the largest since the Cold War. Putin’s greeting of “Buenos noches” reflects the fact that the children did not know Russian.
The video, which has garnered over 56,000 views and nearly 1,000 likes, shows the family disembarking the plane and receiving warm hugs from Putin, who then turns to the children with a friendly welcome.
The reactions to the video have been mixed. Some viewers noted the surreal nature of the situation, likening it to something from a movie, while others expressed sympathy for the children. “So the movies weren’t that far out,” one Instagram user commented, while another wrote, “I feel bad for the kids.” A third person added, “This is so sad.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov addressed the media regarding the children’s lack of knowledge about their Russian heritage. “Before that, they didn’t know that they were Russian and that they had anything to do with our country,” Peskov explained. He further revealed, “The children asked their parents yesterday who it was that was meeting them (in Moscow). They didn’t even know who Putin was. This is how the ‘illegals’ work. They make such sacrifices out of dedication to their work.”