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Brazil Worries It Has Become a Haven for Russian Spies Infiltrating the West

Alleged agents posing as Brazilians have caught the eye of the U.S. and Norway—and could be candidates in any prisoner exchange

PADRE BERNARDO, Brazil—The double life of a suspected Russian spy arrested in the far north of Norway began more than a decade earlier in this corn-and-soybean producing town a half a world away, Brazilian authorities say.

Norwegian authorities say a university researcher carrying Brazilian documentation is actually a deep-cover agent for Moscow, charging him with espionage. Investigators traced his Brazilian citizenship to a fraudulently obtained birth certificate from Padre Bernardo, in what has become a familiar pattern of identity theft and spycraft originating from this South American country.

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