UPDATED: Norway’s police intelligence agency PST is blaming “pro-Russian hackers” for what it calls “sabotage” to a dam at Bremanger in Western Norway last spring. The alleged hackers gained control of a system that allowed water to pour out of the dam for around four hours in April.
PST chief Beate Gangås, who was speaking about hybrid warfare during the large Arendalsuka gathering this week, said the pro-Russian hackers don’t always aim to cause massive destruction but rather “show off what they’re capable of doing.” In this case, reported newspapers VG and Aftenposten, the dam at the lake called Risevatnet was the target of the attack, which Gangås thinks was meant to “spread fear or unease” among the Norwegian public.
The hackers opened vents that allowed nearly 500 liters of water a second to pour out of the dam before their attack on the dam’s operations system was discovered and halted. The dam lies above the small community of Svelgen, but there were no consequences since the amount of water released was far below flood capacity of the river below.
An investigation by both state crime agency Kripos and PST (Politiets sikkerhetstjeneste) concluded that pro-Russian hackers were behind the sabotage. “Our Russian neighbour has become more dangerous,” Gangås said. Those who acquired unauthorized access to the dam’s operations published a video showing their attack on the reporting service Telegram.
The Russian Embassy in Oslo, meanwhile, has since fired back after initially failing to respond to Norwegian media inquiries. It sent a message to news bureau Reuters instead, claiming Norwegian authorities had failed to provide any evidence to support their accusations, calling them “inappropriate and pointless.” The Russian Embassy also stated that it had “offered to establish cooperation with the Russian National Coodination Centre for Computer Incidents” but had received no response.
“We consider the latest accusations by the Norwegian special services (PST) to be unfounded and politically motivated,” wrote the embassy, publishing its statement on its own website but not attributing it to any official at the embassy. It went on to claim that PST “is unsuccessfully trying to substantiate the mythical threat of Russian sabotage against Norwegian infrastructure” and that “such statements are being spread with the aim of discrediting Russia and strenthening militaristic sentiments in Norway.”
The Russian response included claims that Norway was trying to manipulate its own society “…in order to fuel Russophobic hysteria” and “worsen Russian-Norwegian relations.” It added that “Along with pumping the Kiev regime with weapons, as well as illegal anti-Russian sanctions and attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of our country, such statements (like those of PST) are one of the tools of a large-scale ‘hybrid war’ that Norway is waging against Russia together with other Western states in the military, intelligence, economic, political and information spheres…”
It concluded by countering Gangås’ claim that Russia has become a “more dangerous” neighbour by claiming that Norway’s “unfriendly actions make Norway a dangerous country for us, posing risks and threats to the national security of the Russian Federation.”
There’s little doubt that the relatively friendly relations Norway had with Russia for decades, especially in the border area in the far north, are over. Iver B Neumann, director of the Fridtjof Nansen Institute in Norway and a former professor of international relations at the London School of Economics, linked Russia’s heated response to Russia’s Soviet era, when “attack was the best defense.”
“This is a clear escalation of rhetoric, and reminds us of the Soviet way of expressing yourself.” Neumann told newspaper Aftenposten.
Neumann, who studied Russian at the Norwegian Army Language School before studying international relations at Oxford and launching an academic career, also served as a professor of Russian studies at the University of Oslo from 2005-2008. He said Russia puts large resources into so-called hybrid warfare and that its impulse when defending itself is not just to deny charges against itself but also attack. “It’s in line with Russian tradition, to portray itself as the one under siege,” Neumann told Aftenposten.
A PST spokesman, meanwhile, said the intelligence agency had “registered that the Russian Embassy has issued a reaction through its statement,” but had no further comment. PST has also issued warnings that Russia will try to influence the upcoming Norwegian national election via social media and manipulation of so-called “influencers” to spread Russian propaganda or create political conflicts.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
