Brazil Worries It Has Become a Haven for Russian Spies Infiltrating the West
Alleged agents posing as Brazilians have caught the eye of the U.S. and Norway—and could be candidates in any prisoner exchange
By Luciana Magalhaes and Louise Radnofsky
The U.S. seeks to extradite Sergey Cherkasov, pictured in 2012, a suspected Russian spy now imprisoned in Brazil. PHOTO: JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
PADRE BERNARDO, Brazil—The double life of a suspected Russian spy arrested in the far north of Norway began more than a decade earlier in this corn-and-soybean producing town a half a world away, Brazilian authorities say.
Norwegian authorities say a university researcher carrying Brazilian documentation is actually a deep-cover agent for Moscow, charging him with espionage. Investigators traced his Brazilian citizenship to a fraudulently obtained birth certificate from Padre Bernardo, in what has become a familiar pattern of identity theft and spycraft originating from this South American country.
Another Russian using a forged Brazilian identity is incarcerated in Brazil and faces spying charges in the U.S. Dutch authorities stopped him last year as he allegedly attempted to infiltrate the International Criminal Court as an intern. A third suspected Russian spy who lived for years under a Brazilian identity in Rio de Janeiro is missing.
The incidents have sparked an investigation in Brazil into whether Moscow is using the country as an incubator for deep-cover agents seeking to infiltrate the West—and have put Brazil in an uncomfortable international spotlight. Brazilian investigators have offered few public details about their probe, but they believe more covert agents could be lurking undetected within the country or around the world, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Russian Embassy in Brasília didn’t respond to requests for comment on the allegations of spying. Moscow has denied that Russian agents are covertly operating in Brazil, Norway or elsewhere.
For the U.S., the two alleged agents now in custody also present an opportunity for a possible prisoner exchange. U.S. officials have said they are engaging with countries holding Russian citizens and are open to incorporating such prisoners in a deal aimed at freeing Americans held in Russia. That includes Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who is being detained on a charge of espionage that he, the Journal and the U.S. government strongly deny.
In the case of Sergey Cherkasov, who allegedly attempted to infiltrate the International Criminal Court under the Brazilian identity of Victor Muller Ferreira, Brazil is wrestling with competing extradition demands from the U.S. and Russia. Cherkasov is serving a 15-year prison sentence in Brazil for using false documents and is under investigation there for alleged espionage.
Paulo Ferreira, a lawyer representing Cherkasov, said his client admitted to the use of false documents but denied he is a Russian spy.
The U.S. indicted Cherkasov in March, charging him with illegally entering the U.S. under his Brazilian alias and acting as a Russian agent while attending a graduate program in Washington, D.C
Russia has also requested his extradition, saying that he is a drug trafficker, an allegation that has drawn skepticism from many U.S. and Brazilian officials but which Cherkasov himself has said to be accurate.
According to the U.S. indictment, Cherkasov fraudulently obtained a Brazilian birth certificate that identified him as Victor Muller Ferreira, born in April 1989, and used that birth certificate to obtain other fraudulent IDs, building up his double life in Brazil over several years.
That alleged strategy underscores security gaps within Brazil’s documentation system that covert spies can exploit: Law-enforcement officials say that with just a birth record in hand, a person can obtain Brazilian identity cards and a passport, as long as those documents haven’t already been obtained under that identity.