The Dutch Intelligence Agency has said it discovered a Russian military agent who was attempting to infiltrate the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is based at The Hague, by posing as a Brazilian intern.
The attempt by Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov was likely made in an attempt to gather intelligence as the court is currently investigating allegations of Russian war crimes committed in Ukraine.
The head of the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service, Erik Akerboom, told Reuters that, “This was a long-term, multi-year GRU operation that cost a lot of time, energy and money.”
Akerboom noted that the spy’s application to the ICC was successful adding, “It clearly shows us what the Russians are up to – trying to gain illegal access to information within the ICC. We classify this as a high-level threat,”
GRU is the acronym used to abbreviate the name of Russia’s largest intelligence agency ‘The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation’, which was formed in 1918 and formerly known as the Main Intelligence Directorate.
Cherkasov has reportedly been taken into custody in Brazil for the use of forged documents.
He posed as Brazilian Victor Muller Ferreira, claiming to have been born in 1989 in Rio de Janeiro. It was also reported that he lived in Ireland and the US while preparing his mission in The Netherlands.
Independent.ie reported that Cherkasov studied political science at Trinity College between 2014 and 2018 using his fake identity.
In a four page letter submitted to support his internship application Cherkasov gave a detailed account of his difficult upbringing saying that he was raised by his struggling mother with the help of his aunt.
The document contains details of a young ‘Victor’ praying and hiding in a box all day after he said he was frightened by an older boy, he claimed that other children used to tease him by calling him “gringo” because of his “German” appearance. He later mentioned his love for brown bean stew and trance music.
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