( CNN ) -- During a recent meeting , Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin provided encouragement and sang patriotic songs with 10 agents who were expelled from the United States this month after they were accused of spying , state media reported . `` I am sure they will work in decent places . I am sure they will have an interesting and bright life , '' Putin told reporters Saturday as he described his meeting with the group , state media RIA-Novosti said . Putin , a former KGB officer , said that betrayal allowed the spy network to be uncovered , adding that he knew the names of those responsible , RIA-Novosti reported . Betrayers `` always end up badly taking to drink or drugs , in a gutter , '' he said , according to the news agency . The 10 Russian agents pleaded guilty in the United States earlier this month for failing to register as foreign agents and were ordered out of the country . In Washington , Attorney General Eric Holder said none of the 10 had passed classified information and therefore none had been charged with espionage . But U.S. officials said the group had been under observation by federal authorities for more than a decade . White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told PBS ' `` NewsHour '' that although the 10 agents did n't plead guilty to being spies , they `` were clearly caught in the business of spying . '' After the pleas , the agents were ordered out of the country and the United States and Russia completed an elaborately choreographed spy swap , using chartered planes to exchange the 10 agents convicted in the U.S. with four Russians who had been imprisoned for alleged contact with Western intelligence agencies . Putin told reporters Saturday that the life of a spy is difficult . `` Imagine - they have to master a foreign language as your own , think and speak it , fulfill tasks in the interests of their motherland for many years without counting on diplomatic immunity , '' he said .
Putin says he sang patriotic songs with expelled agents in a recent meeting . The Russian leader said the men were not spies and that they had been sent to Moscow by their own country as part of an anti-terrorism operation. State media reports that Putin knows the names of those responsible . The agents were deported earlier this month after pleading guilty to failing to register .