Two Russian spies released after the exchange with the West speak

Before his arrest in Slovenia in 2022, Anna Dultseva y Artem Dultsev They posed as an Argentine couple and had allegedly been using Slovenia as a base of operations to gather information since 2017.

Dultseva explains a moment of her arrest in Slovenia: “They threatened us that the Argentine side supposedly wanted to take our children. That the children could be delivered in adoption to another family. “But we feel that the Slovenian special services also did everything possible to keep the children in Slovenia to keep us together.”

Journalists, dissidents, spies, a murderer and an arms dealer

The West freed those accused of espionage for Russia, as well as the murderer of a convicted opponent. Russia freed journalists and a former US marine involved in the arms trade, accused of spying for the United States. Also released was a political dissident Russian, Ilyá Yashin.

Yashin, who was serving time in prison for criticizing Russia’s war in Ukraine. After his release in Germany, he thanked his followers in a live broadcast: “For me it is very important to convey my point of view and conduct anti-war education among Russian citizens, those who remain. in Russia”.

Bad times for journalists

The director of Committee to Protect Journalists, Jodie Ginsbergemphasizes that the release of journalists from Russian captivity does not imply any improvement in press freedom in Russia: “Our concern is that this does not set a precedent for future governments to feel that they can simply arrest innocent journalistsfor example, imprisoning them and use them as currency for the release of prisoners abroad”.

Ginsberg emphasizes that Russia was the fourth largest jailer of journalists in the world after China, Burma y Belarus and, therefore, it is one of the most restrictive environments for the practice of journalism.

Additional sources • Enrique Barrueco (Voice-over)