¿Mamá, Es Verdad Que Somos Rusos?—Children of Spies, Diplomats, and International Businessmen
MT799 Authenticated | Independent Contributors Column
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Welcome to MT799 Authenticated, Barbershop Whispers….Russia's (BWR) independent contributors column is published on Wednesdays from time to time. The independent contributors are seasoned experts in Russian geopolitics, domestic politics, and business.
The views of MT799 contributors are their views and not necessarily the opinions of BWR or e8Q Technologies LLC.
Publisher’s Note:
Many BWR subscribers contacted me and expressed an interest in the mental health impact of the children of the Russian illegals who were traded for Western hostages in August 2024. The young children were raised as Argentines and did not know of their Russian heritage until they arrived in Moscow.
In response to our BWR subscriber's requests, I have asked Dr. Kenneth Dekleva, a renowned practicing psychiatrist with decades of experience treating US diplomatic foreign service officers and international businessmen, to share his thoughts on this important topic.
Dr. Dekleva is a frequent MT799 contributing columnist. His last MT799 Authenticated piece was ‘Western Leadership Crisis as the World Burns: Who Fills the Power Vacuum?’
About the Author:
Dr. Kenneth Dekleva served as a Regional Medical Officer/Psychiatrist with the U.S. Dept. of State from 2002-2016 and is currently a Professor of Psychiatry and Director of Psychiatry-Medicine Integration UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX; he is also a Salzburg Global Fellow at the Salzburg Global Seminar and a Senior Fellow at the George H.W. Bush Foundation for US-China Relations. He is the author of two novels, The Negotiator’s Cross and The Last Violinist.
The views expressed are entirely his own and do not represent the views of the U.S. Government, the U.S. Dept. of State, or UT Southwestern Medical Center.
¿Mamá, Es Verdad Que Somos Rusos?—Children of Spies, Diplomats, and International Businessmen
During the recent hostage trade with Russia, unjustly detained American citizens Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva, and Paul Whelan were exchanged for a group of Russians, including convicted FSB murderer Vadim Krasikov and SVR illegals Artem Dultsev and Anna Dultseva. Media attention was drawn to the young Dultsev children (ages 8 and 11, respectively), who only learned of their true Russian identity upon landing at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, where they and their weeping parents were greeted by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and SVR Director Sergei Naryshkin, along with an assortment of media and other well-wishers.
The children, born and raised in Argentina and later in Slovenia, had grown up as Argentine citizens, speaking to their parents only in Spanish, and had attended Spanish-speaking and English-speaking international schools. Observers wondered, what happens next to these children? How do they cope with their profound change in identity? How will they adapt to their new lives in Moscow?
Initial Western media reports found this situation to be horrific, with terms applied such as “child abuse,” “betrayal,” “victims of Russian espionage practices,” and “collateral damage.” But I’d argue that a closer, more nuanced look at the Dultsev’s family situation is warranted, one which shies away from Western cultural and psychological biases, and which examines such children’s lives in a Russian, as well as ‘third culture kid’ [TCK] context. Also, it’s worth noting, in the cases of children of intelligence officers (as well as, for example, children who are adopted), their parents’ true identities may not become known to them until adolescence or later, knowledge which carries its own secret, psychological baggage.
As a senior U.S. State Dept. diplomat and regional medical officer/psychiatrist (during 2002-2016), serving overseas in Moscow, Mexico City, New Delhi, Vienna, and London, with regional duties in over 75 countries, I have evaluated and treated hundreds of children of diplomats, aid workers, intelligence officers, military officers and law enforcement officers stationed overseas, often for their entire childhoods. I have also known and met countless other TCKs, including children of missionaries, educators, international businessmen, academics/think tank experts, and deep-cover intelligence officers (who live overseas under business or other cover). Both my and the experiences of others – including those well-documented in the published literature on TCKs – suggest that the Dultsev children are likely to have positive outcomes from their formative experiences as children of SVR illegals. The key variables are not their parents’ secrecy and deception, but rather the children’s relative youth, their parents’ affection and love for them, and their natural resilience—all psychological factors that can counteract their initial sense of bewilderment (they didn’t even know who President Putin was when he greeted them—in Spanish!). The other key mitigating factor, in this case, is the sensitivity towards the Dultsev children shown by the Slovene government authorities (and the Director of their intelligence agency, SOVA), who fostered regular visits and video conferences between the Dultsev children and their parents following the latter’s arrest in 2022. The above factors were evident in the Dultsev family’s first interview with Russian media shortly after their return to Moscow.
Like many TCKs, the Dultsev children spoke Spanish at home and attended an English-speaking international school in Ljubljana. In such settings, TCKs find more in common with other TCKs, than with children from their ‘home country.’ Their lives are shaped by international travel, living overseas (often until they begin university studies and even afterward), and forming friendships based upon such commonality. Long-term outcome studies by Ruth Van Reken (Cross Cultural Kids) and others have shown that such children largely end up as successful university graduates who are multilingual, multicultural, and truly global citizens. Not surprisingly, given such skill sets and backgrounds, many later become diplomats, international businessmen, aid workers, journalists, academics, think tank experts, intelligence officers, and educators.
An interesting variable is that such children often have a more fluid identity shaped by their varied travels, upbringing, and exposure to other cultures and languages. Their development of a core individual and professional identity – a key task of adolescence and young adulthood – can sometimes take longer to emerge. But this process can also manifest itself in endowing these TCKs with innumerable gifts.
A reading of President Obama’s – for he too was a TCK, spending part of his childhood in Indonesia – lovely memoir Dreams of My Father highlights his poignant journey in this regard. And more recently, Daniel Levin, a brilliant, multilingual hostage negotiator, ‘track 3’ diplomat, international lawyer, and son of an Israeli diplomat who grew up overseas in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, has written Proof of Life: Twenty Days on the Hunt for a Missing Person in the Middle East in which he eloquently speaks about how his unusual childhood experiences shaped and influenced his current courageous, meaningful work with the Liechtenstein Foundation for State Governance.
So—back to the Dultsevs. Their children will have the jarring challenge of adapting to their new home, culture, and language, where their parents are now considered national heroes and part of a storied, hallowed tradition of KGB and SVR illegals, led for years by the late General Yuri Drozdov, who had himself served for six years as a KGB illegal in Germany, immortalized in the movie ‘Bridge of Spies.’
There are other variables to consider. Will they continue their use and study of Spanish, at home and in school? Will they attend a Spanish-speaking school? I know of numerous diplomats, non-official cover (NOCs) e.g. deep-cover American intelligence officers, and international expat businessmen who sent their children to local, rather than international schools, seeking deeper immersion. By way of example, one of America’s greatest military/intelligence officers, diplomat and interpreter to eight Presidents, the late LT General Vernon Walters (Silent Missions) who spoke over a dozen languages fluently, grew up in Europe and attended local French schools.
Such a parental decision can impact their children’s later identity and adult development, where they become a different sort of TCK. Their body language, identity, culture, and linguistic abilities can influence later downstream choices about friendships, relationships, and career choices. For many, the hardest part may be returning ‘home,’ where home is not truly home. This experience can bring its own burdens and requires sensitivity, time, and maturity to navigate.
The Dultsev case, as well as the earlier (2010) case of the SVR illegals, immortalized in the TV series ‘The Americans,’ does raise moral questions. This was certainly the case in the drawn-out Canadian legal machinations involving the children of the SVR illegals Andrei Bezrukov and Elena Vavilova (aka the Foleys), who were older (ages 16, 20) at the time of their parents’ arrest, and whose lives were thereby much more complicated and upended.
But similar moral questions can be asked of diplomats, intelligence officers, international businessmen, educators, and other expats, who raise their children overseas, often for decades. What are the psychological and health costs of such a lifestyle? The true answer is that there is little scientific, empirical research on this question, although ample anecdotal writings exist to offer some answers. I therefore think it wise to avoid a rush to judgment in such cases. Each child, regardless of their family and nation of origin, who eventually becomes an adult, is unique, and has a story, their story, to tell.
Vol 2, No 46 - BWR (MT799) 02.10.2024
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 | A guest post by
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I grew up this way. Es la verdad. Todo. ;) And this: "For many, the hardest part may be returning ‘home,’ where home is not truly home. This experience can bring its own burdens and requires sensitivity, time, and maturity to navigate." - it took me decades to adjust, and I'm not exaggerating. I tell people, moving to the U.S., was the hardest of all my international moves. Thank you, Dr. Dekleva, for your insights.