Brazil Denies U.S. Extradition Request for Alleged Russian Spy

SÃO PAULO—Brazil’s government has denied a request from the U.S. to extradite alleged Russian spy Sergey Cherkasov, the Justice Ministry said Thursday in a statement.

The decision on what to do with Cherkasov, a 37-year-old who was indicted in the U.S. in March, is preliminary and subject to review by Brazilian authorities, a top government official said Thursday. The U.S. has charged Cherkasov with acting as a foreign agent, visa fraud, bank fraud and wire fraud.

Brazilian authorities, who said they didn’t immediately notify the U.S. of the decision, declined to elaborate on the reasons for the denial. The U.S. Justice Department declined to comment.

The denial is a blow to hopes that Cherkasov could be included in a prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Russia to free Americans the Biden administration considers wrongfully detained in Russia, including Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal who has been jailed in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison for nearly four months.

An American citizen accredited to work as a journalist in Russia, Gershkovich is being held on a charge of espionage that he and the Journal vehemently deny. The Biden administration says Gershkovich isn’t a spy, and it has designated him as wrongfully detained.

The extradition denial, reported Wednesday by Brazilian news site Metrópoles, comes on the heels of a court ruling Monday to cut Cherkasov’s prison sentence for document fraud to five years from 15 years.

The court’s reasoning was that Cherkasov’s crime was a single continuous act, rather than a variety of different offenses, and that that entitled him to a shorter sentence.

Brazilian and U.S. authorities say Cherkasov is a native of the Russian city of Kaliningrad. He was arrested in São Paulo in 2022, convicted in the same year and is currently in prison in Brasilia.

Cherkasov’s lawyers told the Journal that they have asked the court to let him finish his sentence outside of prison. They have even suggested that he could serve it in the Russian consulate in São Paulo, according to Paulo Ferreira,

Prosecutor Janice Ascari confirmed that she had been informed of the court’s decision to cut the sentence and said the prosecution may appeal.

The Justice Ministry also said in the statement Thursday that it was suspending plans to carry out Cherkasov’s extradition to Russia, which had been conditionally agreed to by Brazil’s Supreme Court. Russia requested Cherkasov’s extradition last year, saying he is wanted on drug-trafficking charges.

Cherkasov remains under investigation in Brazil for alleged espionage, according to Brazil’s Supreme Court. Brazil’s justice minister, Flávio Dino,

Cherkasov’s lawyers say that even if he were partially freed, he wouldn’t be able to travel to Russia until a Brazilian investigation into his alleged espionage is completed.

Cherkasov isn’t the only alleged Russian spy caught by authorities using Brazilian false documents. Other cases are also under investigation by Brazilian and European authorities. Brazilian police have said they fear the country may have become a magnet for Russian spies taking advantage of a system in which identification documents can be easily obtained or forged.

U.S. and Brazilian authorities say Cherkasov posed as a Brazilian student under the name of Victor Muller Ferreira

Both Russia and the U.S. have been trying to have Cherkasov extradited.

Russia was the first to request the extradition of Cherkasov, alleging he is wanted on drug-trafficking charges. U.S. officials have been skeptical of such Russian extradition requests, believing them to be motivated not by legal concerns but in order to repatriate spies. Brazil’s Supreme Court last March conditionally agreed on sending him to Russia, but only after Brazilian investigations into his alleged spying are completed.

At the end of April, the U.S. also requested Cherkasov’s extradition.

Write to Luciana Magalhaes at [email protected] and Louise Radnofsky at [email protected]