SOLNECHNOGORSK /Moscow Region/, August 2. /TASS/. Russia will be doing its utmost to bring home its citizens from the United States and other countries as long as Russians are imprisoned there, Yelena Vavilova, a retired colonel of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has told TASS.

As the Federal Security Service's public relations center said earlier, eight Russian citizens returned home as a result of the August 1 swap of prisoners at Ankara airport.

"The way I see it, this is, of course, an unprecedented event," said Vavilova, who spent many years outside Russia as a former deep cover intelligence agent. "It was an unusual exchange. Several countries participated. But I assume that the main actors in these negotiations were Russia and the United States," she said on the sidelines of the 10th all-Russia youth forum Terra Scientia. "Exchanges are possible [in the future]. We see that they happen regularly. As long as our Russian people are in captivity, we will trying to bring them back home. Let's hope that there will be more exchanges and our compatriots will be returning to their country."

Vavilova said it was a very important sign that President Vladimir Putin personally welcomed the returning Russians at Vnukovo-2 airport.

"This is very important. Also, it is a sign that these people are respected. The president’s statement that they have accomplished their duty was crucial likewise. It shows that dedicated people keep working both inside the country and far away from home to protect our nation from different sides. This is essential," she noted.

Vavilova remarked that "it's not easy to go through such an ordeal, to live through it all, and to come back."

"Of course, the couple who has children will also probably experience some period of difficult adaptation here. But in their home country, believe me, it is always easier and better."

The exchange shows, the retired SVR officer emphasized, that this tradition of exchanges is alive, although Russia and the United States are experiencing a dramatic moment in their relations and "confrontational factors in politics are many."

Vavilova’s profile

Yelena Vavilova is a Russian intelligence officer, a former deep cover agent, a retired SVR colonel since 2010. Under the name Tracy Lee Ann Foley Vavilova together with her husband Andrey Bezrukov (Donald Howard Heathfield) have spent nearly a quarter of century working as intelligence agents in various countries, including the United States. The couple, along with their two sons, lived in a suburb of Boston. In 2010, Vavilova was arrested. With a group of 10 colleagues, she returned home as a result of an exchange of imprisoned spies between Russia and the United States.