It wasn’t too long ago that Norway needed help from its allies to get one of its citizens out of a Russian jail. Now it has returned the favour, by offering the release of a Russian spy in Norway as part of last week’s biggest spy swap between Russia and NATO allies since the Cold War.
More details are emerging about how the exchange of alleged spies came about Thursday night. Norway, according to its foreign minister, has been part of negotiations since last year, at the highest levels of government.
Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reported over the weekend that Norway’s involvement can be traced back to its arrest of a researcher at the University of Tromsø in Northern Norway in the fall of 2022. The man now confirmed to be Mikhail Mikushin, one of eight Russians who landed back in Moscow late last week, had been living abroad for years and posing as a Brazilian academic conducting research on the Arctic area and hybrid threats at the university in Tromsø, also known as “Norway’s Arctic University.”
As with other colleagues and acquaintances of the eight Russians involved in the spy swap, they were “shocked” by his arrest at the time. While Mikushin claimed to be from Brazil, two of his fellow Russian spies in the swap had claimed to be from Argentina. Norway’s domestic intelligence agency PST has earlier claimed that South American countries are often used in espionage because many lack a central population register. Mikushin has been in custody since his arrest nearly two years ago, with officials at the Russian Embassy in Oslo predictably denying they had anything to do with the alleged spy, and accusing Norway of espionage “hysteria.”
Norwegian prosecutor Fredrik Ranke has now confirmed that Mikushin was due to appear in court in late August or early September, with PST proposing that he be indicted for espionage and the state prosecutor calling for him to be indicted on charges of attempted espionage.
A reportedly small group of Norwegian authorities, meanwhile, was already working on the deal to include Mikushin in the spy swap.
“We have all been highly aware that Norway got assistance from our allies to get a Norwegian out of Russian prison,” Ranke told NRK. “Now we were in a position to offer some help of our own. We are very satisfied with this solution.”
The Norwegian Ranke was referring to is Frode Berg of Kirkenes in Northern Norway. He worked for many years as a guard along Norway’s border to Russia just east of Kirkenes, and was known as an active supporter of friendly relations between Norway and Russia in the far north. He later claimed he was duped into winding up as a courier for Norway’s own national security forces, carrying money in envelopes and delivering it to spies in Russia.
Berg was ultimately arrested in Moscow in 2017 and sentenced to 14 years in prison before he finally was released in a spy swap via Lithuania in 2019. The Norwegian Parliament later launched an investigation of Berg’s recruitment and he was paid millions of kroner in compensation for his ordeal.
Now, five years later, Norwegian authorities seem keen to help other allies get their citizens out of Russian jail, both alleged spies and others including a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and Russian dissidents. Norway was clearly willing to turn over Mikushin, not least because Moscow’s own willingness to get him back in Moscow confirmed he was a spy. The defendant himself had since admitted to his real identity.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said a small group of officials within Norway’s security services, justice- and foreign ministries were made aware of negotiations going on to exchange eight Russians jailed in Germany, Slovenia, Norway, Poland and the US for 16 Americans, Germans and Russian political prisoners. Germany initially aimed to demand the release of Russian opposition leader Alexsej Navalny in return for releasing convicted assassin Vadim Krasikov, but Navalny died in prison before the deal was sealed. Navalny’s death in February reportedly suspended spy swap negotiations for several months, and led to a new plan for last week’s coordinated prisoner exchange.
“Even though this has been prepared over a long period of time, the most tension always comes at the end, when we find out whether everyone carries out what they agreed to,” Eide told NRK. “The preparations had to remain secret, and we have actually managed that to a high degree.”
Eide also confirmed that the release of four Russian agents from countries in Europe was first proposed by the US as early as last November. That’s when Norway’s own Russian prisoner, Mikushin, became one of them, and Norway joined in the negotiations.
“Over the past few weeks, we expected that things would happen pretty much as they did,” Eide told NRK, adding that those involved were nonetheless “nervous that something could go wrong at the last minute. So it was very good to get it done.” Norway had to go along with releasing Mikushin, but reportedly had agreed to that several months ago.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre told NRK that he spoke with US President Joe Biden Thursday night, but wouldn’t go into details on the negotation process.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
