A Brazilian judge ordered a Russian man who spent years building a secret “deep-cover” identity to infiltrate organizations in the United States and Netherlands on behalf of Russian intelligence deported.

The order against Sergei Cherkasov, published on July 6 in Brazil’s official government ledger, did not specify where he would be expelled to. However, Brazilian media outlets said he was expected to be sent back to Russia.

US authorities, who had indicted Cherkasov in 2023 on espionage and fraud charges, had requested he be extradited to the United States.

The Brazilian deportation order prompted an unusually strong criticism from the US State Department, which said it “undermines our joint commitment to combat foreign interference and protect the integrity of our democratic institutions.”

The court order was first reported by the BBC.

The order was the latest in the twisting criminal case that highlighted the issue -- and successes -- of Russian intelligence agencies in trying to burrow its operatives into Western societies.

Cherkasov was initially arrested in the Netherlands in 2022 where he had posed as a Brazilian graduate student named Victor Muller Ferreira, and sought an internship at the International Criminal Court.

After he returned to Brazil, US investigators discovered that Cherkasov had also been a student at John Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C., a school known for training diplomats and intelligence officers, as well as foreign affairs academics.

The deportation order did not specify when Cherkasov would be kicked out of the country, though Brazilian media said it was expected to occur at the conclusion of his sentence in Brazil.

The issue of Russian intelligence agents spending years building fictitious identities in Western countries exploded into view in 2010 when the FBI announced the arrest of a ring of 10 Russian agents who lived quiet, suburban lives undercover, hiding their identifies even from their own children in some cases.