It could have “affected the criminal proceedings of the ICC”, which investigates crimes committed in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion, but also in the war in Georgia in 2008, said the Dutch secret service (AIVD).
The Dutch secret services announced today that they prevented a Russian spy from gaining access – pretending to be a trainee – to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is based in The Hague and is investigating, among other things, war crimes in Ukraine.
Had he not been identified in time, the man could have accessed the court building and computers, gathering information and locating sources on behalf of the Russian military intelligence service (GRU) for which he works.
In short, it could have “influenced the criminal proceedings of the ICC”, which investigates crimes committed in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion, but also in the war in Georgia in 2008, said the Dutch secret service (AIVD).
The man was identified as 36-year-old Sergei Vladimirovich Serkasov. He pretended to be a 33-year-old Brazilian named Victor Mueller Ferreira in order to gain access to the ICC, added the Dutch secret service.
He was arrested in April at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on a flight from Brazil to begin his internship at the ICC after his application was approved, the Dutch news agency ANP reported.
It was sent back to Brazil on the first airline flight, the AIVD said.
The spy posed a “potentially very high threat” because it could be “of great value to the Russian intelligence services” if they had a man of their own inside the ICC premises, the Dutch secret service added.
It is rare for an intelligence agent of “this level” to be arrested, said Eric Akerbum, director general of the AIVD, according to ANP.
“GRU had invested years in hiding his true identity. “It’s a huge effort,” Akerbum added, noting that the spy’s revelation in April had only just been announced so as not to adversely affect the investigation.
The Russian spy had built an identity for many years, inventing a life down to the smallest detail, the AIVD revealed in a document about his tastes and life course, written by him in Portuguese.
He’s supposed to have a troubled relationship with his parents, he was disgusted by the fish, he was in love with a teacher and he was nicknamed “Gringo” (“Stranger”) because he “looked German”.
The court expressed its gratitude to the Dutch authorities for this “important operation and in general for revealing security threats,” Sonia Robla, a representative of the ICC, said in a press release.
“The ICC takes these threats very seriously,” he added.
This is not the first time the Netherlands has uncovered Russian intelligence operations in its territory, particularly in The Hague, where many courts and international organizations are based.
In 2018, Dutch authorities deported four alleged Russian GRU spies who accused them of trying to violate the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which was investigating attacks in Syria.
