Federal prosecutors in Argentina launched a probe to uncover the logistic and financial networks that allowed Russian spies to enter the country and carry out disinformation campaign efforts, the newspaper La Nación reported Sunday.
The government of Argentina first revealed in June that officials from the SIDE intelligence secretariat discovered a Russian spy network operating in Argentina. According to statements issued by presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni at the time, the spy network carried out suspicious activities “in favor of Russia’s geopolitical interests in close communication with Argentines.”
Adorni further detailed that the network’s members were part of “The Company,” an entity allegedly linked to the Russian government and with ties to Russia’s “Lakhta” disinformation program. The program reportedly intended to assemble a group of people loyal to Russian interests to carry out disinformation and influence campaigns against the Argentine state.
“Its tasks include creating and disseminating content on social media, influencing civil organizations, foundations, and local NGOs, developing focus groups with national citizens, and obtaining political information to be used in favor of Russia’s interests,” Adorni said in June.
La Nación reported on Sunday that it had obtained a copy of a report signed by federal prosecutor Eduardo Taiano detailing that at least six other possible spies from Russia’s GRU military intelligence unit either passed through Argentina or moved to the country between 2012 and 2022 thanks to logistical and financial help of both Argentine and foreign nationals, who provided the Russian spies with false documentation and funds.
The six GRU spy suspects were reportedly identified as Alexander Verner, Olga Koloba, Denis Sergeev, Vladimir Ochatov, Irina Bain, and Andrei Zuev. La Nación detailed that suspicions around the six suspected spies first arose due to a “mistake” committed by the Russian GRU, which reportedly provided the six individuals with consecutively numbered passports “very close” in numbering to that of known GRU-affiliated spies who moved around Europe. According to the report, their conduct in Argentina constitutes a possible violation of the 1950 local law against acts of espionage, sabotage, and treason.
The documents reportedly state that, in addition to the six possible GRU spies, the network also included Artiom Dultsev and Anna Dultseva, two Russian nationals revealed in 2024 to be spies of the Russian regime working under its Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).
The husband-and-wife spy couple lived several years in Argentina under the false identities of “Ludwig Gish” and “María Rosa Mayer Muños” and moved around at least six Argentine states without raising suspicion from local authorities. The pair reportedly even used their fraudulently obtained Argentine citizenship to vote in the 2013 national elections and spy on three mothers whose children attended their schools.
The pair relocated from Argentina to Slovenia in 2017, where they were detained in 2022 and reportedly returned to Russia last year alongside their children as part of a prisoner swap between the U.S. and Russia. According to the outlet Infobae, the two spies originally moved to Argentina by taking advantage of the visa waiver agreement between Russia and Argentina signed in 2009 by socialist former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Fernández de Kirchner is presently serving a six-year house arrest prison sentence on corruption charges.
Argentina has historically maintained one of the world’s most lax immigration systems. In May, President Javier Milei implemented a series of policies to curb illegal migration, including a ban on criminals from entering the country.
La Nacion detailed in its report that the probe led by prosecutor Taiano seeks to determine who formed part of the support network that assisted the two spies during their stay in Argentina. According to the newspaper, Taiano detailed the names of three local individuals suspected of assisting the Russian spies. One of the three suspects, La Nación, reported, is 59-year-old Fabián Horacio Gutiérrez, the official who processed “Ludwig Gish’s” Argentine citizenship application, a request that the spy backed using a forged death certificate that allegedly belonged to his mother.
Taiano also reportedly determined that Gutiérrez’s wife, identified as 63-year-old Ukrainian national Olga Alexandrivska, and 60-year-old Algerian national Ali Kherchi “may have collaborated with Artem Viktorovich Dultsev [aka ‘Gisch’] and Anna Valerevna Dultseva [aka ‘Mayer Muños] to achieve their illicit objectives.”
La Nacion spoke with Gutiérrez over the phone, who said that he has no problem with the investigation, and asserted that “Olga is my wife, I don’t know who the other one is.”
“I will probably have to go to court to defend myself because we are the ones who propose the citizenship procedures, but others are in charge of monitoring them,” Gutiérrez said. “The documentation [from ‘Gisch’] seemed genuine to me, and I am not involved in the digital part, which is handled by Renaper [Argentina’s National Registry of Persons]. They are the ones in charge of monitoring each procedure.”
La Nacion reported that while Gutiérrez denied knowing Ali Kherchi, the prosecutor’s report states that the Kherchi, an Algerian national suspected of assisting the Russian spies, first entered Argentina on a flight from Moscow and shared a round trip flight with Gutiérrez to Turkey in 2016.
The report reviewed by La Nación also states that Kherchi worked for the Algerian embassy, a country that the newspaper described as “friendly to Russia,” and that his listed residence in Buenos Aires was only two blocks away from where the Russian spy family lived.
According to the newspaper, Gutiérrez’s Facebook profile only features two images, a panoramic view of a mosque in Turkey and a portrait of him, “liked” by his wife Olga Alexandrivska, whose Facebook page does not feature pictures of her face.
Prosecutor Taiano reportedly requested local courts access to the phone, financial, and banking records of all the individuals suspected of being Russian spies and those that are suspected of forming part of their support network, as well as any other information that companies such as PayPal, Payoneer, Prex, Mercado Libre, Ualá, and Meta’s Whatsapp messaging platform may have on the suspects.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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