Brazilian authorities have exposed a large-scale Russian spy network that used the country as a starting point to build deep-cover identities. According to a years-long investigation, Russian intelligence officers obtained real Brazilian documents - including birth certificates and passports - issued in false names. Their goal was to build reliable coverts that would allow them to infiltrate foreign countries, writes “New York Times“, reports News.bg.
These so-called “illegals”, as they are known in intelligence circles, created a convincing life profile - they founded companies, studied at prestigious universities, entered into romantic relationships and built a wide range of social contacts. They were not aimed at espionage in Brazil itself, but used the country as a springboard for operations in the United States, Europe and the Middle East.
The operation, codenamed “East“, was led by a team from the Brazilian Federal Police. Following a tip-off from the CIA in 2022, Brazilian authorities began searching for so-called “ghost“ individuals - people with valid documents but no previous presence in administrative databases.
One of the most famous cases is that of an agent traveling under the name Victor Mueller Ferreira, who was detained after an unsuccessful attempt to begin an internship at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Subsequently, other fake Brazilian identities were revealed, linked to active or former Russian agents caught in Portugal, Uruguay and other countries.
The revelations are the result of a combined effort - a manual search of millions of archives, as well as close cooperation with foreign intelligence services. Brazilian authorities used the Interpol system to distribute photos and fingerprints of the suspects. They were not declared as spies, but as people with false documents.
The network includes at least nine people - men and women with various guises: entrepreneurs, students, even models. Most of them managed to leave Brazil before being arrested. The only one caught and convicted is Sergey Cherkasov, accused of document fraud.
There has been no official comment from Brazilian services on the current investigation yet. International analysts, however, point out that the revelations deal a serious blow to Russia's spy infrastructure and highlight how vulnerable even the most sophisticated cover-ups can be in the digital age.