By Waldaniel Amadis | 2023-10-17

SÃO PAULO -- On the brink of facing questioning in a money laundering investigation related to alleged Russian spy Sergei Vladimir Cherkasov, a Russian embassy official hastily left Brazil in recent days.

Cherkasov, 38, is serving a five-year, two-month sentence in a high-security prison in Brasilia for identity theft and fraud.

In early October, a Russian national posted to his country's embassy received a summons to answer questions from the Federal Police (PF) about a possible network in Brazil supporting Cherkasov's alleged espionage.

Instead, he flew to Russia, as reported by the Metrópoles news portal.

The diplomat departed just before the scheduled date of his questioning.

The diplomat came under scrutiny by the PF when investigators uncovered his involvement in financially aiding Cherkasov during the time the alleged spy resided in Brazil under a false identity.

The diplomat, whose identity was not disclosed, presumably fled rather than answer questions and confront possible legal problems.

His disappearance has sparked suspicions that he might be another Russian covert agent, according to Metrópoles.

The initial investigation by the PF regarding Cherkasov centered around the utilization of forged documents. He was subsequently accused and ultimately convicted by the Supreme Federal Court (STF).

Following the initial investigation, the PF initiated a second inquiry, this time delving into potential money laundering.

Alongside Cherkasov, individuals associated with a network who allegedly aided him during his operations have become subjects of the latest investigation.

Russian plot

In July, the Brazilian government rejected a US extradition request for Cherkasov. Now the STF is analyzing another extradition request for him submitted by Russia. Some observers call the request a ploy by Russia to extract an agent who is in trouble.

Russian authorities say he is wanted in Russia for drug trafficking.

Cherkasov already has expressed his desire to serve his sentence in a Russian prison.

He was deported in April 2022 from the Netherlands for using fake Brazilian documents to enter.

In July 2022, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison in Brazil for identity theft and fraud.

However, a São Paulo court reduced Cherkasov's sentence to five years and two months, making him eligible to serve the rest of his sentence in a semi-open regime.

Despite the reduction of his sentence last year, Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin warned on July 28 that a final decision on the case will not be made until the investigation of espionage in Brazil is complete.

Cherkasov will remain in a special pavilion in the Brasilia prison, which has reassured police investigators who feared he would escape, according to the Metrópoles news site.

The same media outlet said that Brazilian diplomacy is handling the case with "stealth and caution" in order to avoid a crisis among the Brazilian, Rusisan and US governments.

Who is the alleged spy?

Using his sham Brazilian identity, Cherkasov earned a master's degree at the Johns Hopkins University campus in Washington, DC, in 2020.

The Russian "sleeper agent" was activated when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, say investigators, who add that his mission was to gain access to confidential documents related to Ukraine.

To accomplish this objective, he applied for an unpaid internship at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

"The threat posed by this intelligence officer is deemed potentially very high," the Dutch security agency, the AIVD, said in a statement in June 2022 after his deportation to Brazil.

Cherkasov engaged in illegal intelligence gathering in the United States, Ireland and Brazil, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) told Brazil in a report.

"For years, Cherkasov worked as an illegal agent for a Russian intelligence service and committed fraud against the United States," said David Sundberg, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Washington field office, in a March statement.

Sleeper agent operations

Cherkasov laid out an elaborate cover story during his years of deception.

In 2010, Cherkasov arrived in Brazil, claiming to have been born there in 1989 and to have grown up in Argentina. Investigators found that he was born in 1985 in Russia.

"He always presented himself as a Brazilian raised in Argentina and took forró classes -- a typical dance from Brazil -- with a Brazilian girlfriend," a representative from a dance school in Sao Paulo confirmed to Entorno.

Authorities are withholding the girlfriend's identity.

His dance teacher, Pheliphe Britto, described him as a "normal person, a bit shy but joyful and at the same time reserved. We never thought he was a Russian spy."