The Dutch authorities uncover a Russian navy spy posing as a Brazilian intern to infiltrate the Hague-based worldwide battle crimes court docket.
The Dutch intelligence service has uncovered a Russian navy agent making an attempt to make use of a false id to infiltrate the Worldwide Prison Courtroom (ICC) which is investigating accusations of battle crimes in Ukraine.
Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov created an elaborate cowl story courting again years to try to enter the Netherlands as a Brazilian nationwide for an internship on the Hague-based ICC in April, the company’s head instructed the Reuters information company on Thursday.
“This was a long-term, multi-year GRU operation that price lots of time, vitality and cash,” mentioned Dutch intelligence company chief Erik Akerboom, utilizing the acronym for Russia’s navy intelligence service.
No GRU consultant might be instantly reached for remark, although President Vladimir Putin’s authorities has prior to now incessantly denied spying accusations as a Western smear marketing campaign in opposition to Moscow.
The Dutch Basic Intelligence and Safety Service (AIVD) mentioned in a press release that the person, who glided by the alias Viktor Muller Ferreira, was picked up at a Dutch airport.
He was declared an undesirable alien and placed on the subsequent flight again to Brazil, the place he faces court docket proceedings, it added.
“It clearly exhibits us what the Russians are as much as – making an attempt to realize unlawful entry to info throughout the ICC. We classify this as a high-level menace,” Akerboom added, saying the ICC had accepted him for an internship.
ICC spokesperson Sonia Robla mentioned the court docket was grateful to Dutch authorities for the operation and the exposing of safety dangers.
“The ICC takes these threats very significantly and can proceed to work and cooperate with The Netherlands,” she mentioned.
There was no quick touch upon the case from Brazilian authorities.
‘Nicely-constructed cowl’
The Dutch company mentioned it had taken the bizarre step of releasing detailed info on the case to show the workings of Russian intelligence and the menace to different worldwide establishments.
It distributed a four-page doc outlining what it mentioned was Cherkasov’s invented cowl story, which included a supposed troubled household historical past and particulars from a membership the place he preferred to hearken to digital trance music and his favorite restaurant in Brasilia the place he would eat low-cost brown bean stew.
“Cherkasov used a well-constructed cowl id by which he hid all his ties with Russia normally, and the GRU specifically,” the assertion mentioned.
The ICC, a everlasting world battle crimes tribunal with 123 member states, opened an investigation in Ukraine simply days after Putin despatched his troops in on February 24. It's analyzing allegations of battle crimes, crimes in opposition to humanity and genocide.
The Dutch have expelled greater than 20 Russians accused of spying lately.
They embody 4 individuals accused in 2018 of hacking the Group for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), two accused of spying within the company, high-tech sector in 2020, and 17 suspected operatives accredited as diplomats who had been thrown out after this 12 months’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia has denied all the fees and responded to the most recent expulsions by additionally kicking out 15 Dutch embassy and consulate workers from Moscow and St Petersburg.
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