On SpyCast: Russia's fake identity assembly line in Brazil

She discovered a secret Russian spy network in Brazil. And yet, “they weren't there to spy at all,” said Jane Bradley, a New York Times investigative journalist. “They were there effectively to become Brazilian.”

Her story started in the shadow of the arrest of Sergey Cherkasov — posing as “Victor Mueller Ferreira.” He had built an elaborate cover, even receiving a graduate degree at Johns Hopkins University and securing an internship that was set to begin at the International Criminal Court. Cherkasov’s arrest triggered Operation East, a sweeping inquiry by Brazil’s federal police.

As Jane and her colleague Michael Schwirtz reported, the Brazilian investigators found more Russian spies living in their country. And they seemed to have something alarming in common: They all had authentic birth certificates, passports, and other documents. Brazilian authorities initially believed corruption played a role, but forensic analysis suggests something more complex — possibly a Cold War-era KGB operation, filing birth certificates in the names of fictitious newborns decades in advance.

From the Times’ office in London, Jane described a few of the nine Russian spies who had never before been exposed. One man had a girlfriend, a cat, and a 3-D printing business with military contracts. There was an emotional toll left on real Brazilians who had built relationships with people they thought they knew.

Jane also spoke about why Brazil, a country that remained neutral as Russia made a bid for all of Ukraine, took a strong stand against Moscow after identifying the spies. It is also worth mentioning that they were likely only caught because different countries started sharing intelligence with each other in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Intelligence-sharing will be used to catch more Russian spies moving forward, Jane told me. “We have heard from sources [in] other countries who are very interested in looking at the tradecraft pattern here and whether it might apply in their countries as well.”

Questions remain and Brazil’s investigation is ongoing.

Episode length: 30 minutes

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