Artem Shmyrev and his wife, Irina, were members of an elite few. After nearly a decade of rigorous training in Russian spycraft, the pair were working as deep-cover operatives with fake identities that they planned to use for the rest of their careers.
Their assignments — hers in Greece and his in Brazil — are seen in Russia’s intelligence agencies as a prestigious opportunity. A privilege.
But text messages between the pair, written in the late summer of 2021 and recovered from Mr. Shmyrev’s phone, reveal the personal, often frustrating side of their lives.
The Times reviewed transcripts of the messages, which were shared with foreign intelligence services as part of a wide-ranging investigation into Russian espionage.
What follows are three exchanges, taken from the larger trove of messages, that offer unique glimpses into the work and the loneliness. In what appears to be standard procedure for deep-cover operatives, they exchanged messages in English, which was imperfect.
This exchange captures an important dynamic, not just in a long-distance marriage but in espionage.
Russia’s foreign intelligence service, the S.V.R., often unites its deep-cover operatives in marriage early in their careers. They are sent into the world as a couple, partners in espionage and life. Such pairings are meant to diminish the sense of isolation that can afflict such spies during years, and sometimes decades, spent undercover, experts say.
The Shmyrevs were different. They were sent to separate countries and were apart for years. Exchanges like the one above show the challenges of operating alone. They indicate that the couple had grown frustrated with the day-to-day drudgery and, at times, with each other.
This exchange adds to a body of evidence, collected in previous Russian espionage cases, that suggests that deep-cover work is not as glamorous as recruits had hoped. Government documents in a 2010 case in the United States describe Russian spies toiling without access to secrets.
Artem worked as 3-D printer in Brazil, building his cover as he itched to begin real work. From afar, the couple tried to support each other as both coped with the demands of a job that turned out to be much different than they had expected.
The messages provide tantalizing hints about the type of espionage the spies were conducting, though the details are not entirely clear.
In their exchanges, Artem pressed Irina to spend more time writing reports so their bosses in Moscow understood the effort that she was putting into her work.
Irina, though, did not think that her work — translating websites, creating online advertising campaigns and, apparently, taking classes to monitor a group of American students — was worth reporting.
Mostly, it seems, the texts portray two spies who needed to vent their frustrations. How much contact they had with people who knew their true identities is unclear.
Contact with each other at least gave them a chance, on occasion, to be themselves.
Michael Schwirtz is an investigative reporter with the International desk. With The Times since 2006, he previously covered the countries of the former Soviet Union from Moscow and was a lead reporter on a team that won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for articles about Russian intelligence operations.
Jane Bradley is an investigative reporter on the international desk. She is based in London, where she focuses on abuses of power, national security and crime, and social injustices.
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