US Charges Russian Infiltrator Arrested in Netherlands by Criminal Court in The Hague | Abroad

The man, who claimed to be 33-year-old Brazilian Victor Muller Fereira but is actually 33-year-old Russian Sergei Vladimirovich Cherkasov, was arrested in the Netherlands last spring. The General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) then announced that the man had previously been hired as an intern at the ICC, but had been arrested at Schiphol shortly before he took up duty there after “all alarms” were triggered at the AIVD. Cherkasov turned out to be working for the Russian military intelligence service GRU and may have had access to ICC information and people of great interest to the GRU, according to the AIVD at the time.

The then 36-year-old Russian was sent back to Brazil, where he was charged with identity theft and sentenced to 15 years in prison. However, Russia requested his extradition. The United States can try to stop this with the indictment.

The US Department of Justice bases the indictment on alleged actions by Cherkasov while a student at Johns Hopkins University in Washington between 2018 and 2020. He then allegedly posed as a representative of a foreign power and reportedly passed information about the Americans to Russian intelligence.