Russia's Fake Identity Assembly Line in Brazil

SpyCast

News, Education, History

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 1 July 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When a Russian spy was arrested in Brazil in 2022, authorities were shocked to discover that he seemed to have a real birth certificate and authentic citizenship documents. The incident sparked a multi-year investigation that uncovered a network of Russian operatives living and working in Brazil – Their false identities supported by genuine documents. New York Times journalist Jane Bradley, who investigated the spy network, joined us to discuss the case as Brazilian law enforcement continues to piece together answers today. If you liked this episode, check out these links: Ghost Stories: The Hunt for Russian Spies in the US | SpyCast "The Minions": Putin's Expendable Spies | SpyCast Curator's Corner: Kevin P. Riehle on Russian Intelligence Prefer to watch your podcasts? Find us on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@IntlSpyMuseum/podcasts. Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/ And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by E-mail at [email protected]. This show is brought to you from Goat Rodeo, Airwave, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:27.5	For more information, go to amazon.com.uk.U.K. slash prime.
0:34.7	Welcome to Spycast, the official podcast of the International Spy Museum.
0:40.3	I'm your host, Sasha Ingber, and each week I take you into the shadows of espionage, intelligence, and covert operations across the globe.
0:51.3	When a Russian spy was arrested in Brazil in 2022, authorities were shocked to discover that
1:00.3	he seemed to have a real birth certificate and citizenship documents.
1:05.6	It sparked a multi-year investigation that uncovered a network of Russian operatives living and working in Brazil,
1:13.6	their false identities supported by authentic documents. New York Times journalist Jane Bradley
1:20.5	investigated the spy network as Brazilian law enforcement continues to piece together answers today.
1:28.5	Jane, these Russians in Brazil, they weren't there to spy. Tell us what they were doing.
1:35.9	Yeah, you're right. They weren't there to spy at all. They were there, effectively, to become
1:39.7	Brazilian. So Russia was basically using Brazil as this kind of spy factory and assembly line for building up their deep cover agents, cover identities.
	...

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