US demanded in Brazil extradition of a Russian spy that seemed to be a student
About it reports Washington Post. Now Serhiy Cherkasov is serving a 15-year imprisonment in Brazil for forgery. Russia denies that Cherkasov is a secret agent, and instead submitted its own request for extradition, accusing a man of heroin trade. The report on US extradition was made against the backdrop of escalation of tensions because of the recent arrest of the Russian reporter Wall Street Journal Evan Gershkovich on accusations of espionage.
The United States deny this information and claim that it is Moscow's attempt to accumulate Western hostages to use them in their interests. Officials in Brazil have stated that the US request would be referred to the Supreme Court of the country, which is usually dealing with extradition issues. The representative of the Ministry of Justice refused to comment, saying, "As a rule, the department does not usually comment on extradition issues.
" Paulo Ferreira, a Brazilian lawyer, who represents Cherkasov's interests, said he could not comment on the case, but his client gave the Brazilian authorities his desire to be extraordinary to Russia. Cherkasov originally from Kaliningrad, and allegedly secretly worked on Russian military intelligence, misleading Western power, universities and institutions, giving himself for a Brazilian student, named Victor Muller Ferreir. The 38-year-old Russian was found guilty of fraud and forgery.
According to Cherkasov's counterfeit documents, Washington Post reports, he was able to join the elite school of advanced international studies of John Hopkins University in Washington. After graduation in 2020, he was offered to attend the International Criminal Court in the Hague, and he was going to proceed to this post last year, when he was detained at the air enforcement officers of the Netherlands at the FBI at the FBI - and sent back to Brazil.
The arrest of Cherkasov is part of the suppression of Russian spyware networks after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. European countries have sent at least 400 Russian diplomats after the war in Ukraine on suspicion of espionage. In recent weeks, the cleaning of Russian spies continued in Sweden and Germany.
Cherkasov was allegedly a representative of a specialized group of Russian "illegals", that is, spies that do not work under the diplomatic cover of the Russian embassies, and instead spend years on developing false identification to hide any connection with the Russian government. At least six other illegals have been arrested or exposed over the past year in countries such as Norway, Slovenia and Greece.
Despite these and other mistakes, Cherkasov, the newspaper notes, the US officials did not reveal his real person until he arrived in Washington to start his studies at John Hopkins University. Using the access he received for two years in Washington, Cherkasov allegedly submitted reports to the Russian military intelligence of the game, in particular about how Baiden's administration can respond to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Referring to analysts of analytical centers and other sources, Cherkasov allegedly suggested that the United States would eventually do little to help Ukraine. Brazil cooperated widely with the FBI and the CIA in investigations, but Washington was disappointed with the refusal of Brazil to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its friendly gestures to Moscow, including the invitation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The Supreme Court of Brazil stated that he would not make a decision on any extradition request until the end of the current investigation of Spy of Cherkasov in Brazil, officials reported. We will remind that according to the investigation, the GRU agent Sergey Cherkasov collected data on the diplomatic corps at the Embassy of Jerusalem. He then sent the information to the curator in the Philipin. On March 28, Poland announced the exposing of the Russian spy network. Three Russians were detained.