Waxing Brazilian

“Artem Shmyrev had everyone fooled. The Russian intelligence officer seemed to have built the perfect cover identity. He ran a successful 3-D printing business and shared an upscale apartment in Rio de Janeiro with his Brazilian girlfriend and a fluffy orange-and-white Maine coon cat. But most important, he had an authentic birth certificate and passport that cemented his alias as Gerhard Daniel Campos Wittich, a 34-year-old Brazilian citizen.” But there was another twist this spy story. This group of spies hadn’t spent the last six years lying low so that they could eventually spy on Brazil. They were essentially becoming Brazilian so they could then spy on other countries. “Once cloaked in credible back stories, they would set off for the United States, Europe or the Middle East and begin working in earnest. The Russians essentially turned Brazil into an assembly line for deep-cover operatives.” The NYT (Gift Article) with an incredible spy plot and the story of how it was uncovered before the operatives actually started spying. The Spy Factory. (One imagines the fluffy orange-and-white Maine coon cat knew what was up, but just didn’t care.)