A security expert for the Russian Parliament (Duma) who was arrested on espionage charges in Oslo last month was a free man on Friday. Mikhail Botsjkarjov was released from custody and claimed he holds no grudge against Norwegian authorities. Botsjkarjov was stopped at Oslo’s main airport at Gardermoen after he’d attended an EU-sponsored seminar held […]
Russians call spy charges ‘extortion’
October 4, 2018
Russian officials reacted angrily once again on Thursday after a court in Oslo agreed to hold a Russian man charged with spying in custody for at least two more weeks. A Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman called the charges “pure extortion” aimed at freeing a Norwegian held for spying in Moscow. “We demand that all false […]
Russians keep Norwegian in jail
October 2, 2018
A stand-off over alleged spying on each other continued between Russia and Norway this week. A court in Moscow ordered a former Norwegian border inspector charged with espionage to be held for at least two more months, just days after a Norwegian court ordered that a Russian charged with spying in Oslo be kept in […]
Russian spy drama sets off a probe
September 24, 2018
Investigators from both Norway’s police intelligence unit PST and the national security authority NSM were cordoning off printers at the Parliament and reportedly searching for electronic bugs, following the arrest of a Russian charged with espionage during the weekend. Russian authorities, meanwhile, summoned Norway’s ambassador in Moscow and warned of reprisals unless all charges against […]
Russian held on espionage charges
September 23, 2018
A 51-year-old Russian man who was in Oslo last week to take part in a seminar on digitalization at the Norwegian Parliament was arrested at Oslo’s main airport at Gardermoen as he was leaving the country Friday evening. He’s charged with espionage, and was ordered during the weekend to be jailed for at least the […]
Calls rise to invite Putin to Finnmark
September 14, 2018
Next fall marks the 75th anniversary of how Soviet forces liberated Norway’s northernmost county of Finnmark from the clutches of Nazi German occupiers in 1944. Local officials are steadily being joined by other voices around the country in calling upon the Norwegian government to invite Russian President Vladimr Putin to join the solemn anniversary celebrations. […]
Stoltenberg, Støre also broke rules
August 24, 2018
Former Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, who’s now secretary general of NATO, and his former Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre both took their government-issued mobile telephones with them on at least one trip to Russia. Both thus broke government security regulations long before Støre, now leader of the opposition Labour Party, recently blasted the current conservative […]
Missing missile fires up concerns
August 22, 2018
Norwegian fishing industry and environmental officials were expressing concern Wednesday over reports that a nuclear-powered Russian cruise missile has gone missing in the Barents Sea. The area is both environmentally sensitive and a rich fishing grounds, raising fears of nuclear contamination. Nils Bøhmer of the environmental organization Bellona is among those worried by a CNBC […]
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