Gonzo Intelligence

Instead of keeping a low profile, Moscow's spies are embracing the limelight and even being welcomed home by Vladimir Putin after their cover is blown

- BRENDAN COLE

VLADIMIR PUTIN'S STINT IN the KGB before becoming president ensured he knew the value of keeping a low profile. Yet as the war he started against Ukraine pits him against the West, he seems happy for agents to come out of the shadows.

On August 1, the Russian leader held flowers on the tarmac at Moscow's Vnukovo International Airport as he welcomed Artem Dultsev and Anna Dultseva, who had posed as an Argentine couple in Slovenia. They were convicted of spying and were part of a multi-country prisoner swap which included U.S. marine Paul Whelan, journalist Evan Gershkovich and Russian assassin Vadim Krasikov.

The fact that Putin had bouquets rather than rebukes for the Russian agents showed that even with their cover blown, those used to working under the radar could have a significant PR value if thrust into the limelight. "What happened under Putin is that the profession of a spy suddenly acquired a new degree of respectability, becoming these glamorous heroes like Stierlitz [a cult character from the Russian spy TV series Seventeen Moments of Spring] or James Bond," Russian historian Sergey Radchenko told Newsweek.

Newsweek has reached out to the Kremlin for comment.

Like the gonzo journalists in 1970s America who shunned objectivity in favor of being part of the story they were reporting on, these historically clandestine operatives are embracing the limelight, taking on a more proactive and often public role even as the more covert objectives remain in place-as highlighted by the recent bombshell FBI filing charging pro-Russia influencer Nomma Zarubina.

HEROES' WELCOME From left: Dultseva with her daughter and Putin at Vnukovo International Airport on August 1 after a prisoner swap; fellow former spy Chapman.