The Dutch secret service announced on Thursday that it had in April blocked a Russian spy from accessing the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is based in The Hague, in the Netherlands, and which is investigating alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
To discover
LIVE - Legislative 2022: follow the negotiations the day after the first round
Read alsoIn Russia, behind the scenes of “Delicious, period”, the new McDonald’s in self-sufficient mode
“
The AIVD (Dutch secret service) prevented a Russian intelligence agent from gaining access as an intern at the International Criminal Court (ICC)
,” the agency said in a statement, specifying that it was about an individual who works for the Russian military intelligence GRU.
Identified by the AIVD as Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov, 36, the man was using a Brazilian cover identity to travel from Brazil to the Netherlands, the Dutch secret service said.
“Returned to Brazil on the first flight”
“
The AIVD considers him a threat to national security and the service has informed the Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service of this in an official report
,” they added.
"
For these reasons, the intelligence officer was refused entry to the Netherlands in April
" and was "
returned to Brazil by the first flight
", continued the AIVD, specifying that the ICC had been informed of this case.
The ICC has been investigating alleged war crimes committed in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine are members of the ICC, but Kyiv has accepted the court's jurisdiction and is working with the prosecutor's office in its investigation of possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on its territory. .
Read alsoUkraine: relatives of Azovstal fighters detained by Russia beg kyiv and the world not to forget them
Russia should cooperate with the ICC's investigation into alleged war crimes since committed in Ukraine, the court's prosecutor, Karim Khan, told AFP in May.
Russia says the war crimes allegations are false and Russian President Vladimir Putin justified the invasion by saying Ukraine was overseeing "
genocide
" in the east of the country.
