Attempted to infiltrate the International Criminal Court, a Russian spy was caught in the Netherlands

Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov, 36, accused of being a Russian military intelligence agent (GRU), flew to the Netherlands in April believing he had succeeded in an extraordinary attempt to gain access within the war crimes tribunal.

Cherkasov had traveled under the name Victor Muller Ferreira, claiming to be 33 years of Brazilian nationality, but was arrested when he arrived and returned to Brazil the next day after failing to defraud him.

At the time, the ICC had begun investigating alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine, and if Cherkasov had succeeded, he would have had access to the international court’s e-mail systems and might have been able to to copy, confuse or destroy documents or evidence submitted to the courts.

“The threat posed by this intelligence officer is considered potentially very high,” the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service said in a statement.

The head of the Dutch intelligence service, Erik Akerboom, said that it was “very rare” to catch a Russian agent “of this caliber”.

“GRU has spent years creating this false identity. It is a great effort, “he was quoted as saying by the Dutch news agency ANP.

The spy had developed a false identity built in detail over many years, marking it as one of Russia’s most valuable “illegal” programs, an espionage program dating back to the Cold War and widely revived under the president. Vladimir Putin.

Illegals are Russian agents who are given false credentials by another country and tasked with creating a false identity for many years, keeping it a secret from partners and children, with the aim of eventually achieving a position impact.

A group of 10 illegals were unmasked by the FBI in the US 12 years ago, but while they had been in the country for more than a decade, they had largely failed to take positions of power and influence in part because they were closely monitored.

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