Sergei Cherkassov, 37, “worked as an illegal agent of the Russian intelligence services” and had tried to infiltrate the International Criminal Court in 2022.
A Russian national, who tried to infiltrate the International Criminal Court last summer, was charged on Friday with espionage in the United States, where he is accused of having lived under a false identity for two years.
Sergei Tcherkassov, 37, “worked as an illegal agent of the Russian intelligence services under the Brazilian alias Victor Muller Ferreira”, according to a press release from the federal prosecutor in Washington.
Under false identity since 2010
According to the indictment, he began operating under this identity in Brazil in 2010 and built a “legend” for himself with a fictitious aunt, a deceased mother and rare friends.
Five years later, he had filed an application for registration in this name with a university located in Washington. After being accepted at this institution, he entered the United States in 2018 on a student visa.
Until 2020, he lived under this cover, conducting studies in international relations, while gathering “information on Americans which he transmitted to the Russian services”, specifies the services of the prosecutor Matthew Graves.
After leaving the United States in May 2020, he continued to use his university contacts to obtain information on American foreign policy, they add.
Tentative d’intrusion
In April 2022, he had attempted to enter as an intern at the International Criminal Court (ICC), which sits in The Hague, the Netherlands, and is investigating war crimes charges in Ukraine targeting Russia.
The Dutch secret services had unmasked him and refused him entry to Dutch soil. Sent back to Brazil, he was arrested there for fraud and sentenced in July to 15 years in prison.
According to court documents, Moscow has sought his extradition, accusing him of drug trafficking dating back to 2011 and 2013.
