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Children of spies only discovered they were Russian on the plane to Moscow, Kremlin says

Their parents posed as Argentinian citizens, and Vladimir Putin greeted the children in Spanish. According to the Kremlin, they did not speak Russian nor did they know who Putin was.

Why did Russian President Vladimir Putin greet the children of just-freed Russian spies in Spanish?

The reason is straight out of an episode of the hit TV spy show “The Americans.”

Among the first prisoners stepping off the plane to greet President Putin was a slender brown-haired woman grasping the hand of her young daughter. She appeared to stifle a sob as she hugged Putin. He handed her a bouquet of purple and white flowers, and another to her daughter. Putin also hugged her husband and kissed their son.

Then, over the din of the airplane, Putin could be heard greeting the children with “buenas noches” — the Spanish phrase for “good evening.”

Their parents were undercover Russian spies who posed as Argentinian citizens living in Slovenia and went by the names Ludwig Gisch and Maria Rosa Mayer Muños. They were part of Thursday’s massive prisoner swap involving several countries.

JoMiran ,
@JoMiran@lemmy.ml avatar

Buenas noches = Good night

Buenas tardes = Good evening

In Spanish, “buenas noches” is not exclusively used as a farewell like in English, it can also be used as a greeting, just as “good morning” and “good evening”.

BackOnMyBS ,
@BackOnMyBS@lemmy.autism.place avatar

I find it cute when someone speaking Spanish says “buenas noches” as a farewell. It seems like they’re saying “hello” while waving bye. It’s obvious that they learned Spanish as a second language. But Spanish as a 2nd language is almost universally seen as endearing by Hispanophones, not like some people in the US see people that view English as a 2nd language as insufficient, lesser, or rude.

JoMiran ,
@JoMiran@lemmy.ml avatar

You can 100% use “buenas tardes” and “buenas noches” on your way out. It depends on context and intonation.

gex ,

I’m a native speaker and I use buenas noches as a farewell

ArcaneSlime ,

My exit is always “Vaya con Dios.” Of course because of Monsignor Martinez.

MerrySkeptic ,

Article says they were arrested in 2022. Did the kids not realize it was for espionage?

norimee ,

If they kept it out of the news, I don’t see why they should have known if nobody told them what’s going on.

MataVatnik ,
@MataVatnik@lemmy.world avatar

What a mind fuck for those kids

Gradually_Adjusting ,
@Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world avatar

Truly the worst version of “Is It Cake?” imaginable

reddig33 ,

Makes me wonder if the parents or Putin negotiated that the kids had to come with them as part of the exchange.

If I was 16 and living in the US, I’d tell everyone to get fucked I ain’t going nowhere.

tal ,
@tal@lemmy.today avatar

First, their parents were sleeper agents in Slovenia, not the US.

But, okay. Let’s say that it was the US involved, not Slovenia.

The US, unlike Slovenia, uses jus soli – if you’re born on American soil, whether your parents are present legally or not (with very, very few exceptions, like for diplomats and soldiers of a foreign power occupying American territory), you are an American citizen.

But even then, it sounds like the kids were born prior to the parents entering the country, so they wouldn’t have been American citizens. Their parents apparently got visas on forged Argentinian passports, and I assume that whatever visa the kids were on was contingent on that, so the visa would presumably have been invalidated.

Besides, I assume that their parents didn’t want to leave them behind. I mean, yeah, their parents were spies, but I don’t expect that we’re going to take someone’s kids over that.

And the kids didn’t think that they were Slovenian, but rather from Argentina. Up until the plane ride, that’s probably where they expected to wind up.

andrew_bidlaw ,
@andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works avatar

IIRC they were in a foster family due to both parents being in prison for a year+, with them having a weird legal status. It sucks to be these kids and I don’t think someone asked them.

stoy ,

I remember reading an interview with the kid that the spy Anna Chapman had while in the US after he was sent to Russia with his mother.

Mvlad88 ,

Peskov said, before praising intelligence officers who “make such sacrifices for the sake of their work, for the sake of devotion to the cause.”>

Yeah, this kids will be very happy about “the cause”.

Empricorn ,

Wow. This is straight out of The Americans…

card797 ,

Having to go live in Russia. Yuckkkk

MediaBiasFactChecker Bot ,

NBC News Media Bias Fact Check Credibility: [High] (Click to view Full Report)> Name: nbcnews.com> Bias: Left-Center
> Factual Reporting: High
> Country: United States of America
> Full Report: mediabiasfactcheck.com/nbc-news/
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