Text Messages Between Russian Spies, Annotated

New York Times

21-05-2025

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.
Artem
I know pretty much how everything is. No real achievements in work that I supposed to do, I am not where I have to be for 2 years already. I have no money left, I have no wife while I am in my middle 30th, and my old family had lots of troubles. Just work and hope that I really have, but noone wants to feel loser that is why I continue working and hoping. And it is not self pity, just normal reality.
Artem
Same as always
Artem
Thoughts
Irina
Can you please stop?
Irina
I am sorry but this is mental abuse at this point. I have told you again and again, that it is all very subjunctive and that everything is not bad but you keep thinking and saying this - I cannot help you if you think this way. I am not a shrink, not a magician and I am trying to figure things out for myself just like everyone else.
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.
Irina
Yes it is not as it was promised and it is bad - they basically trick ppl into it and I see it as a bad thing. It is dishonest and not constructive.
Irina
But here we are now.
Irina
Try to enjoy the good things
Artem
I am trying, yes. Will be trying harder. Thank you for writing your opinion.
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.
Irina
I am trying to do this and that.
Irina
Courses … What do they care about a bunch of American students
Artem
no, your study
Irina
I doubt they view it as a result
Artem
Look, if you show something as a result and describe it nice, then it is one.
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.
Irina
If you want to think your life is shit - it is your choice.
Irina
Everyone has problems, different ones.
Irina
You are healthy, you are attractive, you are doing something that is not a bad work and you are complaining a lot, ok?
Irina
And mostly about something that is a matter of perspective
Irina
If you wanted a normal family life, well you have made a fundamentally wrong choice.
Artem
You said, thanks.
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.