The US Justice Department has charged Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov, a Russian spy who entered the United States under a fake Brazilian identity, with spying. Cherkasov arrived in the country as Viktor Muller Ferreira, a Brazilian, to take a position as a junior analyst at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. However, he was detained by Dutch authorities in April 2022 for using fake identity papers. The Dutch authorities discovered that he was not Brazilian but an agent of Moscow’s GRU military intelligence. He was deported to Brazil, where he was charged with identity fraud and sentenced to 15 years in jail. Later, Moscow requested Brasilia to deport him to Russia, where he was allegedly wanted for drug trafficking.
The US Justice Department accused Cherkasov of illegally acting as an agent of a foreign power while he was in the United States. The department said that while studying at Johns Hopkins University’s international studies program in Washington from 2018-2020, he collected information on unidentified Americans and passed it on to his handlers. He was also charged with visa fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud, and other counts stemming from his activities in the United States.
The indictment suggests that the US will try to contest his extradition to Russia from Brazil, where he is currently jailed on identity fraud charges. US Attorney Matthew Graves said that when foreign adversaries send undercover operatives into the United States, they will find them and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.
