Norway police arrest citizen suspected of spying for Russia
Man detained in Norway’s capital, Oslo, suspected of ‘harming vital national interests’, according to police.
Police in Oslo have arrested a Norwegian citizen suspected of illegally handing information to a Russian intelligence officer.
The man, whom the PST security police did not name on Monday, was suspected of “harming vital national interests”, which could carry a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.
The arrest took place at a restaurant in the Norwegian capital on Saturday during a meeting of the two, PST spokesman Martin Bernsen told Reuters news agency.
“He [the Norwegian man] was arrested in the presence of the intelligence officer,” said Bernsen.
Asked whether the intelligence officer was not arrested because the person was a diplomat, Bernsen declined to comment.
“We focus on the Norwegian man,” he said.
The arrested man denies any wrongdoing, his lawyer, Marianne Darre-Naess, said following an arraignment hearing at Oslo district court.
The security police are asking the court that the man be detained for four weeks.
Last year, Frode Berg, a retired Norwegian border inspector, was sentenced to 14 years in prison in Moscow after a court found him guilty of spying on Russian nuclear submarines.
NATO member Norway normally enjoys good relations with neighbouring Russia, with which it shares a short land border.
But relations have grown tense since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and a pro-Russia rebellion erupted in eastern Ukraine.