Brazil starts inquiry into Russian deep-cover operatives’ illicit activities

Brazilian authorities have begun a nationwide investigation into the abuse of the country’s citizenship documentation system by Russian spies, who allegedly used it to create false identities.

Brazil has been placed “in an uncomfortable international profile” in the last year, according to The Wall Street Journal, after at least three accused Russian deep-cover agents were exposed by intelligence services in the Netherlands, Norway, and Greece. 

Fake identities of Russian spies

Sergey Cherkasov

Sergey Cherkasov was ejected from the Netherlands in June 2022 after attempting to enter the nation with a Brazilian passport under the name Victor Muller Ferreira. 

As reported by interviews at the time, Dutch and American counterintelligence identified Cherkasov as a member of the Main Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, or GRU. 

Cherkasov is accused of developing his fabricated persona over several years while operating in Brazil and the United States. 

Cherkasov is currently serving a 15-year sentence in Brazil for forging identification cards. He is wanted for espionage in the United States. 

The alleged spy reportedly admits to using falsified documents but denies working for Russian intelligence.

Mikhail Mikushin

In October of last year, Norwegian police arrested another Brazilian citizen, José Assis Giammaria, on suspicion of working undercover for the GRU. 

The suspect’s real name, according to the Office of the Norwegian State Prosecutor, is Mikhail Mikushin. Since 2006, he is reported to have been working as a deep-cover spy in Brazil, Canada, and Norway. 

Mikushin is now facing allegations of “aggravated intelligence-gathering activity targeting state secrets,” which carries a possible sentence of ten years in jail.

Irena Shmyrev and Wittich

Gerhard Daniel Campos Wittich, a Rio de Janeiro resident, went missing while travelling overseas in early 2023.

 A few months later, he was linked to Irena Shmyrev, a Russian deep-cover agent living in Greece under an assumed Greek name until she vanished without a trace, reportedly fleeing the country in haste.

Wittich was ‘Irena A.S.’s Russian husband, who, like her, worked as a deep-cover intelligence operative out of Brazil, according to Greek counterintelligence investigations.

Brazil’s inquiry into Russian spies’ activities

According to The Wall Street Journal, an official inquiry into how many Russian deep-cover intelligence operatives may be using counterfeit Brazilian citizenship cards to “lurk undetected within the country or around the world” is ongoing in Brazil.

According to the article, Brazilian investigators have provided “few public details about their investigation.” 

However, it cites “people familiar with the matter” in claiming that the probe centres on “security gaps within Brazil’s documentation system”, which appear to be exploited by undercover spies. 

Such security flaws include the possibility of obtaining a Brazilian identity card and a passport using a single document, namely a birth certificate.