Brazil's Federal Police has unveiled a Russian espionage network organized through fake documents. This network involved agents of Russian special services who forged birth certificates to appear as native Brazilians. After living in Brazil for several years and integrating into the local community, they were later sent by Russian special services for secret missions in Europe, the US, and the Middle East.
The investigation began at the start of 2022, after the Central Intelligence Agency of the USA alerted the Brazilian government about a person attempting to enter the Netherlands on a Brazilian passport. This individual - acting under the name Victor Muller Ferreira - was identified as Sergey Cherkasov, an officer of the Russian military intelligence service (GRU). He had attempted to undergo an internship at the International Criminal Court, but his documents were exposed as fake.
As a result of the investigation initiated by Cherkasov's arrest, at least nine Russian officers have been discovered living in Brazil under fake identities. They took advantage of Brazil's decentralized civil registration system to obtain passports and other documents based on forged birth certificates. These documents enabled them to travel around the world and carry out various missions.
Following this incident, the Brazilian government issued international alerts via Interpol and shared information about the spies with other countries. This action is being regarded as a deviation from Brazil's traditionally neutral foreign policy. Currently, only Cherkasov remains in prison, while the others have escaped.
These events have highlighted security flaws in Brazil's documentation system. The government plans to address these weaknesses and take measures to prevent such situations in the future.
Abdulloh Sayyid
