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.
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.
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.
Canada uses Jus Soli too (as well as Jus Sanguinis), but they fought to not grant citizenship to a kid born in Canada whose parents turned out to be spies.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/son-of-russian-spies-fights-for-canadian-citizenship-1.4681419
The government’s argument was that since the parents were on fraudulent documents and were effectively working for the Russian embassy, their kids shouldn’t have Canadian citizenship.