The gallery was a front for Russian intelligence, part of an elaborate network of deep-cover sleeper spies trained to impersonate Argentines, Brazilians and other foreign nationals by Russia's foreign intelligence agency, the SVR.
Russia has a long history of investing heavily in so-called illegals, spies who burrow deep into target countries over many years, unlike legal spies operating with diplomatic cover.
Vladimir V. Putin has a real fetish for illegals going back to his time in the K.G.B., throwing huge resources at this quite eccentric priority.
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