If you were to ask me to name my favorite work of fiction, it wouldn’t be a classic such as Gone With the Wind, or To Kill a Mockingbird, or War and Peace . . . although I’ve loved each and every one of them, and many more. But at the top of my list is a spy thriller by American writer Nelson DeMille, titled The Charm School, in which the protagonist — a young American man who foolishly takes a solo road trip in the Russia of the 1980s — loses his way as night falls, and stumbles upon an escapee from a village that is actually a top-secret training ground for Soviet sleeper agents.

And one of my top three multi-season TV series — along with Downton Abbey and The West Wing — is The Americans . . . about two such Russian sleeper agents living as an average American couple who own a small travel agency business, and have two children who know nothing of their parents’ double lives. [Warning: Lots of violence, lots of sex . . . and lots of violent sex.]

And yes, both are pure fiction. But the premise on which each is based is pure fact. And it’s not just a distant memory from the Cold War of the last century. The truth is, HUMINT — human intelligence — is still very much a part of the spy business.

And a recent news report was a stark reminder of that truth.

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The report involves a number of so-called “sleeper agents” or “illegals,” known in the Kremlin as Vladimir Putin’s “invisible front” — a cadre of agents with false names and passports, fluently speaking second languages, and living fake lives in numerous countries around the world. In this particular case, the countries in which the soon-to-be-outed spies had been operating were as diverse as Slovenia, Argentina, Norway, Greece, Poland, Ukraine, the U.K., Canada, and the United States. [Drew Hinshaw and Joe Parkinson, “The Global Hunt for Putin’s ‘Sleeper Agents,’” Wall Street Journal, December 20, 2024.]

The Wall Street Journal’s investigative reporters interviewed more than 30 former and current officials on three continents to piece together a fascinating tale of the sort of espionage activity of which most of us remain blissfully unaware in the course of our daily lives. It is the stuff of which great movies are made, and well worth taking the time to read . . . because every word of it is real.

My particular interest in it derives from the well-publicized swap that took place on an airfield in Turkey on August 1st of this year, when sixteen political hostages of different nationalities were handed over by Russian authorities in exchange for eight of their citizens — hardened criminals and spies who had been arrested and imprisoned in various countries.

At the time, I had been following — and still do follow — the fates of a number of Americans and others being held hostage on specious charges in Russian prisons and penal colonies. And as I read the news of the historic trade taking place last summer, I was particularly drawn to the story of a couple being returned to Russia who had been living abroad for years, first in Argentina and later in Slovenia. When they received their orders from Moscow of reassignment to Slovenia in 2017, they told people they had decided to move in order to protect their children from the increasing crime rate in Argentina. They called themselves Maria (of Mexican heritage) and Ludwig (allegedly Argentinian), and their children knew no differently.

In fact, the husband and wife — who had indeed been married since 2004 — were Anna and Artyom Dultsev. It was a tiny slip-up in some immigration paperwork necessitated by their move to Slovenia that led to their ultimate discovery, the details of which are covered by the WSJ article.

But what isn’t covered — possibly because the information is being closely guarded in Russia — is how the two children, Sofia (11) and Daniel (8), are faring today. Just consider what they have been put through in the past two years:

In December of 2022, their parents are suddenly arrested at home in Ljubljana, Slovenia, while they — then just ages 9 and 6 — are sent to live with a foster family and are told only that there are immigration problems. They are allowed occasional visits to their parents, who they still believe are called Maria and Ludwig.

Finally, after more than a year and a half, they are suddenly put on a plane to Ankara, Turkey, where they are magically reunited with their parents. They next — along with a number of strangers — board an Aeroflot flight, where they are finally told by their parents that they are not Argentinian, but are in fact Russian; that they will now be living in Russia, where they must in effect begin their lives again; and that their parents are not even who they have always said they were.

In fact, Sofia and Daniel are being told that their entire lives have been one gigantic lie.

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That’s more than just a minor disillusionment, or a burst balloon. That is the total destruction of two young lives — two bright, happy, trusting children who will never again know whom to trust, or what to believe. And who are too young to have had any say in the matter.

But such is the result of the decisions made years earlier by two adults who chose to “serve” their country as so-called sleeper spies. The kids are just collateral damage.

And on a secondary level, what of the couple’s betrayal of others: friends, neighbors, co-workers, who never suspected that Maria and Ludwig were anything other than the loving, hard-working parents of two well-behaved children? How has their perception of the world — and of their small section of the world — been altered?

The odds of anyone you know being a foreign spy are slight. But having spent my entire working life in Washington D.C., I quickly learned not to discuss confidential matters in restaurants, taxis, or anywhere that someone might be listening. Sadly, I also came to realize that many people — like those adorable Russian nesting dolls — have multiple layers to their personalities, some of which they may never reveal.

And my mantra became: “A little paranoia can be a healthy thing.”

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
12/22/24