Russian spies arrested in Slovenia, who posed as Argentinian citizens Ludwig Gisch and Maria Rosa Mayer Munos, but were actually Artem Viktorovic Dulcev and Ana Valerievna Dulceva, pleaded guilty at a secret trial before the District Court in Ljubljana. The verdict was read at the District Court in Ljubljana, where two Russian spies were also present. If the court accepts their plea agreement with the prosecution, and it is expected that it will, the two Russian spies will not serve their sentences in Slovenia. According to reliable information, they are part of a larger exchange of prisoners that should take place in the coming hours between Russia, the United States (U.S.), Germany and Belarus. It seems that Putin, in addition to the illegals arrested in Slovenia, will also return the killer of the Russian secret service FSB after years of efforts.
Ana Valerievna Dulceva and Artem Viktorovic Dulcev have been in custody since December 5th, 2022, when the police arrested a Russian spy in the presence of Sova in Ljubljana’s Crnuce. She on Igo, he on Povsetova. According to information, they remained silent during the interrogation, for which they were trained as illegals of the Russian intelligence service SVR. As was revelaed yesterday, during the arrest they were caught “with their fingers in a jam”, most likely while they were sending information to Moscow.
In the Russian intelligence apparatus, illegals are those spies who first train for years in their homeland, then leave Russia, and in turn must also renounce contact with family members, because nothing must connect them to Russia.
What happens after the verdict?
As it was reported, the two Russian spies will be part of a larger exchange of prisoners that should take place between Russia, the U.S., Germany and Belarus yesterday. After several years of efforts, Putin allegedly even managed to return the liquidator of the Russian secret service FSB, Vadim Krasikov, who in August 2019, in broad daylight, liquidated the former Chechen commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, who fought against Russia in the second Chechen war, in a Berlin park, and Russian authorities were convinced that he also led an attack in Ingushetia in 2004 that killed dozens of Russian policemen.
Krasikov arrived in the Berlin park by bicycle. He first shot Kangosvili, who had come there from the mosque, in the back, and then got off his bicycle and shot him twice in the head at close range. At the time of the liquidation, there were also many children in the Berlin park. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in Germany.
Pressure on the West to include Krasikov imprisoned in Germany in the exchange of prisoners, which Western countries resisted for a long time, according to information, came a few days ago from Belarus, which is economically and militarily completely dependent on Russia.
An American journalist from the Wall Street Journal is said to be part of the exchange
It is also expected that Wall Street Journal journalist, American citizen Evan Gershkovich, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison in Russia on July 19th of this year, will be able to return from a Russian prison to the U.S. as part of this exchange. The trial was extremely quick, with only three hearings, and he was convicted on charges that his journalistic expedition to Yekaterinburg in March 2023 was not for journalistic work, but to gather information about the Russian tank manufacturer Uralvagonzavod for the needs of the U.S. secret intelligence agency. service. Moscow never provided evidence of his alleged espionage, only announcing that he had been caught red-handed.
Negotiations on the exchange of prisoners lasted for a long time
Vojko Volk, State Secretary for International Affairs and National Security in the Office of the Prime Minister, came to the pre-election meeting ahead of the European elections with Vladimir Prebilic in June, accompanied by the team and camera of the American Wall Street Journal.
“It is about recording archival documentary material about the story that Slovenia entered in December 2022. It is about the arrest of two Russian spies in Slovenia, about a big story that is slowly unfolding,” explained Volk at the time.
When asked if negotiations were underway to exchange a Russian spy for Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich who was arrested in Russia in March 2023, Volk replied in June: “All options are open, they are always being worked on, but what we are doing in the area of national security, I can say at most a percentage of everything we do”, N1 writes.
E.Dz.
