13 December 2023 at 15:30 VG: Guest researcher charged with espionage admits he is from Russia The man, who was a guest researcher at UiT, was arrested and charged with espionage by PST on 24 October last year. He himself has said that his name is José Assis Giammaria and that he is Brazilian. PST believes that his real name is Mikhail Valeryevich Mikushin, and that he was in Norway on assignment for the Russian intelligence service GRU. Now he admits his real identity, writes VG. According to PST, Mikhushin was born in Russia and is 45 years old. – He recognizes his name. But we had relatively good evidence for that anyway, says police prosecutor Per Niklas Hafsmoe in PST to the newspaper. Early in the investigation, PST sent letters to the Russian embassy to deny or confirm the man’s identity, without receiving a reply, says Hafsmoe. Furthermore, he says that the embassy has been in contact with Mikusjin twice after his identity was confirmed. However, when asked by VG about this, the embassy states that they do not have any information indicating that the accused man is Russian. The man has been in custody since his arrest in 2022. It was before a detention meeting in Oslo District Court on 6 December this year that the Russian was registered with his real name for the first time.
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Guest researcher charged with espionage admits he is from Russia – Latest news – news
