The war in Ukraine has battered the reputation of Russian spies

was a young Brazilian with impressive credentials and a big break. Fresh from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, , an incubator of talent for America’s national-security elite, he had secured an internship at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. But when he landed in Amsterdam in April, he was quickly deported to Brazil. Mr Ferreira was, in fact, Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov, an intelligence officer working for the , .