Villa Elena, a three-storey hotel in Frama, Halkidiki, northern Greece, boasts a large outdoor swimming pool, gazebo, private garden, not to mention sprawling grounds. Even if the interior – all loud greens and purples with gold-rimmed cabinets – looks hopelessly post-Soviet, the amenities include foam pillows, hairdryers and bathrobes. One could do worse for $155 a night. But Nikolay and Elena Šapošnikov, for whom the pillared pile on the Aegean is named, are no ordinary hoteliers. They are Russian “illegals,” or spies operating outside of diplomatic cover, who spent decades living under false pretenses as naturalized citizens of Czechia.