The Norwegian government has agreed to pay what convicted spy Frode Berg calls “generous” compensation, for the “ordeal” he was subjected to “during two years in a Russian prison.” Berg, who was arrested in Moscow in December 2017 and charged with espionage, says he now feels like the state is taking responsibility for a bungled […]
Norway’s ‘Jens’ to calm NATO nerves
December 3, 2019
NEWS ANALYSIS: As nervous and bickering leaders of NATO member countries gathered in London on Tuesday, their own Norwegian leader Jens Stoltenberg was using all his diplomatic and folksey skills to keep them united. Norway’s biggest dilemma, meanwhile, is over the US’ proposal that NATO view China as a threat. Stoltenberg already tried in advance […]
Released spy answered questions
November 26, 2019
Frode Berg met Tuesday with members of the special parliamentary commission charged with controlling Norway’s secretive intelligence-gathering agencies. Some politicians think the head of the agency that recruited Berg to be a courier in Russia should be fired. “I was able to speak out about what I felt a need to say,” Berg told reporters […]
‘A scandal of huge proportions’
November 19, 2019
“I’ve been convicted of espionage, but I’m no spy,” declared Frode Berg at the outset of his lengthy press conference in Oslo Tuesday evening. The retired border inspector from Kirkenes who’s at the center of one of the biggest intelligence-gathering scandals in Norwegian history made it clear that he thinks Norway’s major intelligence agencies have […]
Parliament probes spy’s recruitment
November 18, 2019
The Norwegian Parliament’s special commission charged with monitoring the country’s intelligence agencies has confirmed that it will investigate how convicted spy Frode Berg was recruited and whether any of his rights were violated. Berg finally landed back in Norway during the weekend, after nearly two years in a Russian jail. The parliamentary commission, known as […]
Norwegian spy heads into the cold
November 15, 2019
UPDATED: Frode Berg, the former Norwegian border inspector in Kirkenes who ended up being convicted of spying for Norway in Russia, was pardoned as expected on Friday. It remains unclear what kind of reception he’ll get back home in Norway, as he heads into a new winter after two years in a Moscow jail. Emotions […]
Hopes and tension at liberation jubilee
October 25, 2019
On the eve of Friday’s ceremonies marking the Soviet liberation of Finnmark in 1944 came word that a Russian commission was recommending a pardon for convicted Norwegian spy Frode Berg. As hopes rose for Berg’s release, however, Russia uleashed harsh criticism of Norwegian defense policy, marring the Norwegian delegation’s long-planned meetings with Russian Foreign Minister […]
Berg seeks pardon as spy swap looms
October 18, 2019
Frode Berg, the former Norwegian border inspector convicted of espionage in Russia, has formally applied for a pardon. The move is believed to be part of a complicated deal to swap Berg and two convicted Lithuanian spies jailed in Russia for at least one Russian spy jailed in Lithuania. Berg’s Russian defense attorney Ilja Novikov […]
Norway drops missile defense program
October 10, 2019
Just weeks before meeting Russian officials in the northern city of Kirkenes, to celebrate how the former Soviet Union liberated Finnmark from Nazi German occupation n 1944, Norwegian government officials have made a concession to their neighbours. They won’t be going along with the US- and NATO-backed missile defense program after all. Norway was under […]
Defense chief calls for major build-up
October 9, 2019
Norwegian defense chief Haakon Bruun-Hanssen is asking for, and may well receive, an extra NOK 25 billion (USD 3 billion) over the next eight years to build up the country’s defense. He and other military experts believe Russia would want to blockade Norway in the event of a conflict, meaning Norway must be able to […]
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