Several sources confirmed to the newspaper that the two have been accused of espionage and that a “secret” trial is expected to conclude in the coming weeks

Washington

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A pair of Russian spies arrested in Slovenia in 2022 allegedly used the country as a “base” to travel to several European nations, including Italy and Croatia, to “pay and communicate with their sources and transmit orders from Moscow”. He writes it “Wall Street Journal”, to which several sources confirmed that the two have been accused of espionage and that a “secret” trial is expected to conclude in the coming weeks. The couple arrived in Slovenia with Argentine passports and under the false names of Maria Rosa Mayer Munos and Ludwig Gisch, and lived in Ljubljana: the woman managed an online art gallery, while her husband managed a startup active in the information technology sector. According to documents obtained by the US newspaper, Gisch’s real name is Artem Viktorovich Dultsev, born in the Russian autonomous republic of Bashkortostan and an officer of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR). Her wife, whose real name is Anna Valerevna Dultseva, is also an SVR officer, of an even higher rank than her husband.

After their arrest, in December 2022, agents of the Slovenian security services found “hardware” that the two would have used to communicate with Moscow, which according to sources would have been “encrypted to such an extent that it did not allow access even to Slovenian technicians and Americans.” Following the raid, the agents would have found a secret compartment behind the kitchen refrigerator, containing hundreds of thousands of euros. Anonymous officials told the Wall Street Journal that the two were also “training” their two sons, aware that they could be captured. Other sources told the newspaper that, following the arrest, two more alleged Russian spies (a woman and a man, with Greek and Brazilian passports respectively) rushed to leave Athens and Rio de Janeiro. The two, with the false names of Maria Tsalla and Ludwig Campos Wittich, were apparently recalled from Moscow after their arrest in Slovenia, for “fear of the possible collapse of the spy network”.

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