A man unmasked as a Russian military spy who targeted the International Criminal Court claims to have worked and studied in Ireland, it emerged last night.
Dutch intelligence services yesterday took the unusual step of naming and shaming the man they said was a Russian who was claiming to be a Brazilian, and online investigators then found his CV – where he claimed to have spent more than four years in Dublin.
The man -who Dutch intelligence officials claimed was really called Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov – used the Brazilian name of Viktor Muller Ferreira and lived in Ireland between 2014 and 2018, according to his online CV.
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His CV claims he studied in an international school in Dublin between June 2014 and August 2015.
Ferreira claims to have been involved in English tuition and exams.
And he also says he led small group academic tutorials on General Algebra and Geometry classes.
Ferreira -who is alleged to have attempted to infiltrate the International Criminal Court in The Hague that hunts down war criminals – also claims to have studied at Trinity College Dublin from September 2014 to May 2018.
He says he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Quantitative methods of Research
And he says of his time at the college: “Concentration: Political Science and Quantitative methods of Research • Developed a research on Foreign financed NGO`s and their role in conflict transformation during political crisis and military coup attempt in Turkey in 2016 • ISC International Foundation Year, Dublin • GPA: 3.87 (Honors Degree).”
Ferreira was unmasked yesterday as an alleged agent of GRU, Russia’s feared military intelligence force.
The GRU was the same unit that western governments claims was involved in the March 2018 attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, southern England – in which the deadly Novichock nerve agent was used against them.
Dutch intelligence claimed Ferreira tried to target the criminal court because it is investigating Russian war crimes during its invasion of Ukraine.
The intelligence agency AIVD said yesterday: “The Russian intelligence officer purported to be Brazilian citizen Viktor Muller Ferreira (born on 4 April 1989), when in fact his real name is Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov (born 11 September 1985).
“Cherkasov used a well-constructed cover identity by which he concealed all his ties with Russia in general, and the GRU in particular.
“An officer of this kind is better known as an “illegal”: an intelligence officer who received a long and extensive training. Because of their alias identity, illegals are difficult to discover.
“For that reason they often remain undetected, allowing them to carry out intelligence activities. Because they present themselves as foreigners, they have access to information that would be inaccessible to a Russian national. In addition to the GRU, the Russian intelligence service SVR also makes use of illegals.
“The GRU's main focus is on gathering military intelligence, but it also collects intelligence that is more political or technological in nature. The GRU not only collects information, its officers also carry out covert influencing operations.”
A spokesperson from Trinity could not be contacted last night for comment.
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