On June 16, the Dutch Intelligence Service (AIVD) issued a press release detailing how they foiled an attempt by a Russian military intelligence (GRU) agent to intern at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. This press release describes both his real identity and his "legend" - a fake identity created by the GRU. His real name is Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov (born September 11, 1985), his fake name is Victor Muller Ferreira (born April 4, 1989). AIVD also provided a four-page letter used by Cherkasov/Ferreira, which provides a biography of the fake Brazilian.
From Dublin to Washington
Information contained in the press release and legend letter reveals additional details about "Victor Muller Ferreira" that enabled Bellingcat to find his digital and physical footprint, including his participation in two prestigious programs at Trinity College Dublin and the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) Johns Hopkins University.
The profile on myvisajobs.com contains an undercover biography of Cherkasov: he worked as a travel agent in Brazil before attending Trinity College for an undergraduate degree in political science (2014-2018) and earning a master's degree in the Johns Hopkins SAIS program (2018-2020). ). At the time of his last profile update, he lived in Arlington, Virginia, near the Johns Hopkins University Washington campus.
In 2017, starting his senior year at Trinity College, "Victor" started a geopolitics blog called Politics of Us . Although at first glance, a blog with thousands of comments on each article seems incredibly popular, in reality, most of them are spam. In the blog, he discusses methods to strengthen democracy in developing countries, calls Putin a "cancer" and supports organizations that promote peace in Africa.
Viktor's blog is linked to two of his Facebook and Twitter pages. His Facebook page is almost empty, but with hundreds of friends from Brazil (his supposed homeland) and from his two alma maters, Trinity College and Johns Hopkins University. According to the biography of “Victor” on Facebook, he graduated from the second in 2020, which is confirmed by the university website.
Most of his tweets are dedicated to supporting Trump (here, for example, his deleted but archived pro-Trump text ). And in 2017, he retweeted a link to a Bellingcat post about his GRU colleagues.
Real biography
According to the databases, Cherkasov is originally from Kaliningrad and traveled frequently between Kaliningrad and Moscow by train between 2005 and 2008. There are also records of three flights that Cherkasov made in the summer of 2015, apparently during the summer holidays after his freshman year at Trinity College. These were flights between Moscow and Kaliningrad (June 29, 2015), Moscow and Belgorod (August 7–9, 2015).
The Russian Telegram channel Caution, News has published a photo that allegedly shows Cherkasov in military uniform with his classmate, who studied with him at the Baltic State Academy of the Fishing Fleet. They are the same age, they graduated from high school together in 2007.
