The Dutch Intelligence Service has uncovered a Russian military agent attempting to use a false identity to infiltrate the International Criminal Court (ICC) which is currently investigating accusations of war crimes in Ukraine.

Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov created an elaborate cover story dating back years to attempt to enter the Netherlands as a Brazilian national for an internship at the Hague-based ICC in April 2022, the agency’s Head told reporters on Thursday, June 16, 2022. “This was a long-term, multi-year GRU operation that cost a lot of time, energy and money,” said Dutch Intelligence Agency Chief, Erik Akerboom, using the acronym for Russia’s military intelligence service.

No GRU representative could be immediately reached for comment, though Russian President, Vladimir Putin’s government in the past, frequently denied spying accusations as a Western smear campaign against Moscow.

Details of the Dutch Statement

The Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) noted in a statement that the man, who went by the alias, Viktor Muller Ferreira, was picked up at a Dutch airport. He was declared an undesirable alien and put on the next flight back to Brazil, where he would face court proceedings, it added.

Akerboom intimated that “It clearly shows us what the Russians are up to – trying to gain illegal access to information within the ICC. We classify this as a high-level threat,” adding that the ICC accepted him for an internship.

Response From the ICC

ICC Spokesperson, Sonia Robla, said the court was grateful to Dutch Authorities for the operation and the exposing of security risks.

“The ICC takes these threats very seriously and will continue to work and cooperate with The Netherlands.”
ICC Spokesperson, Sonia Robla

There has not been any immediate comment on the case from the Brazilian authorities yet.

‘Well-constructed Cover’

The Dutch agency noted that it had taken the unusual step of releasing detailed information on the case to expose the workings of Russian intelligence and the threat to other international institutions.

It distributed a four-page document outlining what it said was Cherkasov’s invented cover story, which included a supposed troubled family history and details from a club where he liked to listen to electronic trance music and his favourite restaurant in Brasilia, where he would eat cheap brown bean stew.

“Cherkasov used a well-constructed cover identity by which he concealed all his ties with Russia in general, and the GRU in particular,” the statement noted. The ICC, a permanent global war crimes tribunal with 123 member states, opened an investigation in Ukraine just days after Putin sent his troops in on Thursday, February 24, 2022. It is examining allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

The Dutch has so far expelled more than 20 Russians accused of spying in recent years. They include four people accused in 2018 of hacking the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), two accused of spying in the corporate, high-tech sector in 2020, and 17 suspected operatives, accredited as diplomats who were thrown out after this year’s (2022) invasion in Ukraine.

However, Russia has denied all the charges and responded to the latest expulsions by also kicking out 15 Dutch Embassy and Consulate staff from Moscow and St. Petersburg.