Norway’s national security authority (NSM) raised its risk level for cyber security to the next-highest on Tuesday afternoon. The move comes after Norwegian and Finnish leaders spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier in the day, and after Russia’s foreign minister claimed Russia’s war on Ukraine will continue “and probably escalate.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed that neither Norway nor Finland brought anything new to the table during their leaders’ 90-minute telephone conversation with Putin Tuesday morning. News bureau NTB reported that Lavrov all but belittled the phone call from Finland’s President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, equating it to “an attempt to create a role for themselves in peace negotiations.”
Denmark’s prime minister was also negative, while others have been more positive, including several of Støre’s political opponents in the Norwegian Parliament. The leader of Norway’s Christian Democrats, Dag-Inge Ulstein, told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) that “of course the Norwegian prime minister must be able to have conversations with Russia, even if all our European friends don’t like it.” Ulstein stressed that when Norwegian interests are in play internationally, the prime minister must also be willing to take responsibility.
Guri Melby of the Liberal Party agreed, saying she supports all efforts that can contribute to an end to the war in Ukraine. “What we hoped for, though, is a situation where Putin finds himself pressed into a corner with few choices, and he in fact would need to sit down at the negotiating table,” Melby said. “That’s the only place where it’s possible to find some sort of solution.”
Greens Party leader Ingrid Liland also thinks it’s good that Norway “tries all channels to contribute to a fair peace in Ukraine, including conversations with Putin.” Liland noted that the Norwegian-Finnish initiative was cleared with Ukraine in advance: “All dialog with Putin must be coordinated with (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky.”
Conservatives’ leader Ine Eriksen Søreide, a former defense- and foreign minister in Norway, told NRK that “the steadily more brutal war that Russian is waging against Ukraine has great consequences for security in the rest of Europe. If Russia wins with use of military force, it can change the entire security architecture in Europe.”
Security was clearly on the minds of officials at NSM on Tuesday when they began issuing warnings of cyber security risk for the first time. They set the current risk level at the next-highest, and called on Norwegian businesses, public services and all operations to be as prepared for cyber attacks as possible.
They based the warning on “the security policy situation” and on “various events” in recent months. They also cited the rapid escalation in the use of artificial ingelligence, because that can “discover and exploit liability much more effectively.”
There’s been a wave of cyber attacks against Norwegian systems over the past year, prompting Justice Minister Astri Aas-Hansen to urge everyone evaluate and improve system security.
NewsinEnglish.no staff
