The Dutch Secret Service announced on Thursday that it had blocked a Russian spy from interning at the International Criminal Court, which is based in the Netherlands and investigates war crimes in Ukraine.
This is a rare arrest of a “talented” officer. The Dutch Secret Service announced on Thursday, June 16 that they had blocked a Russian spy from entering the International Criminal Court (ICC) as an intern in April. The court, located in the Netherlands, is mainly responsible for investigating possible war crimes committed by Ukraine. The information is only being released now, so as not to affect the investigation.
Had he not been uncovered in time, the man would have been able to gain access to court buildings and computers to gather intelligence and determine the source of Russia’s Military Intelligence Service (GRU), which works on his behalf.
In short, the Dutch Secret Service said he may have “influenced criminal proceedings” at the International Criminal Court, which investigates crimes committed in Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion, as well as Russia’s war in Georgia in 2008. (AIVD).
The person was identified as Sergei Vladimirovich Cherkasov, 36. The Dutch Secret Service said he entered the ICC under the name of 33-year-old Brazilian Viktor Muller Ferreira.
He was arrested in April from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in Brazil and will begin his internship at the ICC after being admitted to the court, Dutch news agency ANP reported. He was sent back to Brazil on the first flight, the AIVD said.
The spy posed a “potentially very high threat” because having one’s own spy in the ICC could be “of significant value to Russian intelligence,” the Dutch secret service suggested.
Erik Akerboom, director general of the AIVD, said arrests of intelligence officers “of this level” were rare.
“GRU has been hiding its true identity for years. It’s a huge effort,” added Erik Akerboom.
The smallest details of fake identities built over the years
Over the years, the Russian spy has crafted his identity, crafting a life from the tiniest of details, the AIVD revealed in a document about his taste and the course of his life, which Written by himself in Portuguese.
Presumably he didn’t have a good relationship with his parents, didn’t like fish, was obsessed with teachers, and was nicknamed “The Gringo” because he “looked like a German”.
ICC spokeswoman Sonia Robla said in a press release that the court expressed its deep gratitude to the Dutch authorities for this “important action and, more generally, to expose a security threat”, and that the ICC has moved from a The investigation began on the February 24 Russian invasion of alleged war crimes committed in Ukraine. “The ICC takes these threats very seriously,” she added.
multiple penetration attempts
This is not the first time the Netherlands has exposed Russian intelligence operations on its soil, particularly in The Hague, where several courts and international organisations are located.
In 2018, Dutch authorities expelled four suspected Russian GRU spies who accused them of trying to infiltrate the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which is investigating attacks in Syria.
with AFP