A trial got underway in Oslo this week that may embarrass staff at the embassies for both Russia and Iran. It also may result in a 21-year jail term for the defendant himself, a former security guard at the US Embassy in Oslo who was paid for information he passed on to Russian and Iranian contacts but “oversold” his services.
The former security guard, described as a man in his 20s, was arrested last autumn and has remained in custody ever since. He’d been working at the US Embassy for two years at that point, and allegedly passing on information he gathered through his work for around six months.
Prosecutors claim the defendant had contacted the Russian and Iranian embassies in Oslo himself in the spring of 2024, offering to provide them with “information to their advantage.” He was paid EUR 10,000 by the Russians and nearly the same from the Iranians using crypto currency. Newspaper Aftenposten reported that Norwegian intelligence agents know the identity of the Russian officer who communicated with the US Embassy security guard via 42 e-mails beginning in April of last year. His contact with Iranian officials began in May.
Information passed on to both included who was visiting the embassy, which couriers were arriving at the US Embassy, license plate numbers of cars arriving at the embassy and various photographs of embassy communications equipment. Among vehicles photographed were those belonging to special police and security agents. The defendant also passed on the names, addresses and other information about embassy employees, diplomats and their families.
Prosecutors contend that such information could damage national security, and land him in jail for 21 years. His defense attorney John Christian Elden counters that the information wasn’t classified and told Aftenposten that his client’s motive was mostly to earn money: “He has not been sitting on classified or restricted information that could damage Norwegian interests. He has also oversold himself by saying he had more information than he actually had.”
State broadcaster NRK reported, meanwhile, that the defendant had been provoked by what he called “pro-Israeli” attitudes at the embassy, especially an exercise the embassy conducted with Norwegian special forces, in which the latter should defend US diplomats from Palestinian activists. The defendant has claimed he was shocked by the exercise itself, as were other guards.
That’s why he contacted the Russian and Iranian embassies, he said in court. He also admitted he had led them to believe he held a much higher position at the US Embassy than he actually had. In fact, claims Elden, most all the information he collected and passed on was not secret. “Sensitive,” under US law, but not classified. Elden questions whether passing it on is punishable under the law.
The trial was scheduled to run for eight days. The defendant also faces Norwegian tax evasion charges, not only for failing to inform tax authorities of the money he collected from the Russians and Iranians, but also that he failed to report his earnings from the US Embassy itself. They’re said to have totalled around NOK 400,000 in 2023.
NewsinEnglish.no staff
