The story is like a cold war spy novel. The 32-year-old, according to the Greek legal documents Maria Tsalla, or 35-year-old according to her real information, Irina Alexandrovna Smireva from frozen Moscow, came to Athens in 2018 as a child of Greek expatriates.

A year later, she naturalizes as Greek with legal papers, declares herself a photographer and opens a store called “Galazio” in Pagrati with handicrafts and knitting items, while at the same time, she also takes part in photography competitions.

Irina belongs to a special category of spies called “illegals”, who are recruited and trained by the Russian secret services (FSB) and sent to countries of the West to go deep undercover and take on a special role.

According to information, in order to transform the Russian Irina Alexandrovna Smireva into “Maria Tsalla”, the process cost the Russian state around 5 million Euros. That’s how much they say it costs to “create an identity”.

To protect their true identity they falsify documents and using certificates derived from the details of stillborn babies or people who have passed away. From the moment they are placed abroad, the “illegals” live and behave according to the fabricated history created for them in order to protect their mission.

Irina came to Greece and acted independently without appearing to have any contact with the Russian embassy in Athens.

The case revealed by the Greek National Intelligence Service (NIS) is typical of the way of thinking and action of such agencies, as they worked systematically for many years to build the identity and profile of “Maria Tsalla”, by stealing the name of a baby that died in 1991 and with the appropriate exploitation of persons, procedures and agencies, in order for “Irina” to live and be recognized as the Greek “Maria”, deceiving even the people closest to her in Greece, who apparently did not know her true identity.

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The spy allegedly has a relationship with a Russian colleague of hers who is active in Brazil, while at the same time she maintained a relationship with a Greek in order to have him as a cover.

The beginning of the end for her action began two months ago when the Slovenian authorities arrested a colleague of hers. The Russian secret services, fearing that other persons from the network of the “illegals” will be revealed, recalled “Tsalla” to Moscow and she disappeared. She told her acquaintances that she is leaving for some work and that she will return in a month, but she never showed up again. She closed down her store and its website and disappears never to be seen again.

The Greek services are trying to establish what was Russia’s espionage activity in the country as she had the ability to move freely both in Greece and the European Union and in parallel as a photographer to be able to take pictures undisturbed, without attracting attention on her double life and her activities.

“Maria Tsalla”, who according to one of her neighbors spoke at least 3 languages (English, German and French), published mostly photos of her crafts and very rarely any of herself on social media, usually trying to hide her face.

In the store he had also hired a Greek employee, legally, who worked every day, apparently without knowing the double role of her employer.

According to sources from the NIS, as her action would not be limited in Greece, since as an EU citizen she could travel and work in several European countries, the success of the NIS has a dimension that goes beyond national borders and concerns all Western countries in general.