The police security service (PST) was also afraid that the defendant would give up information about “critical infrastructure” in the oil and gas sector, news’s information shows. PST’s concern in 2020 meant that they intervened in a restaurant dinner in Oslo. Interrupted dinner at a restaurant Then the man, who has both Norwegian and Indian citizenship, met a Russian. The Russian, who was then sitting on the other side of the restaurant table, was expelled a few days later. PST believes he was a Russian intelligence agent. The Norwegian-Indian was initially charged with espionage, but the police later dropped this charge. He is now indicted for corruption. The man worked at DNV, formerly known as Det Norske Veritas. According to the indictment, he allegedly received up to NOK 50,000 from the Russian man he met at the restaurant. The trial against the Norwegian-Indian starts on Tuesday. The man’s lawyer, Marianne Darre-Næss, does not want to comment on news’s information before the trial has begun. It was at the Villa Paradiso pizza restaurant in Oslo that PST interrupted a dinner in 2020 to arrest the Norwegian-Indian, now accused of corruption. Photo: Tormod Strand / news Intelligence Service The prosecution believes the Russian man worked in the Russian foreign intelligence service SVR, state attorney Carl Fredrik Fari confirms to news. Fari is the prosecutor in the corruption trial against the Norwegian-Indian. The indictment also mentions the Russian man whom the Norwegian-Indian met. – The indictment is based on the fact that he worked in the Russian Foreign Affairs Service while he was employed at the embassy in Oslo in 2020, says Fari. The prosecution believes that the Norwegian-Indian has shared information about technology that is used, among other things, in the oil and gas sector. – But it should be added that the information he has shared, based on what the prosecution has assumed, cannot harm what we call fundamental, national interests. Photo: Tomm W. Christiansen / news Grave network: Few digital traces news has collaborated with the renowned journalistic grave network Bellingcat to find more information about the Russian who was expelled. The excavation network has won several awards for its work. The Bulgarian journalist Christo Grozev is an investigative journalist at Bellingcat, and works in particular on issues about Russia. Bellingcat also believes the Russian belongs to the Russian foreign intelligence service, SVR. – He is a “profile” that is very typical of an SVR agent. He has left very few digital traces, says Grozev to news. The network has access to leaked databases from the Russian authorities, which normally have information on the vast majority of Russians. The intelligence service that is difficult to find in these databases are people from the SVR, Grozev explains. The grave journalist says that a trip the Russian took in 2015 is what he sees as a “smoking gun”, or “smoking gun” in Norwegian. – He crossed the border between Belarus and Poland in a car with a colleague who we know from a previous investigation is an SVR agent. This connection was the “smoking gun” for us, says Grozev, who adds: – In this case, it seems that it is 99 percent certain that this man belongs to the SVR. Grozev says it is extremely important for Russia to survey Norwegian oil and gas. – Energy is the most important geopolitical weapon that Russia has, says Grozev – and explains that the intelligence service SVR has a special responsibility for gathering information relevant to this. – In this game, Norway is one of Russia’s most unpleasant competitors. Russia must know everything. Both to plan their own actions, but also potentially for sabotage actions, says Grozev. Grave journalist Christo Grozev tells news that he is very sure that the Russian worked for the SVR service. This is a picture from a speech he gave at a conference at the elite university Sciences Po in Paris. Photo: JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP Expert: A “capable” intelligence service Tom Røseth is the head teacher in intelligence at the Staff School in the Armed Forces. He says that SVR has agents abroad, including under diplomatic cover at embassies. – The SVR is a capable intelligence service, says Røseth. In September this year, the Nord Stream gas pipes exploded in the Baltic Sea. The Swedish and Danish authorities suspect sabotage and believe the pipes were destroyed on purpose. Many believe that the arrows are pointing towards Russia. Russia categorically denies that they are behind it, and has asked to participate in the investigation of what happened. In February, Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine. – Why is this trial interesting now? – It is because we have had a security-politically aggravated situation over time. After all, we had the explosions at the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea. This means that it is important to monitor the vulnerability of Norwegian pipelines. Gas bubbles up to 100 meters wide rose to the surface from the broken gas pipes in the Baltic Sea in September. Photo: HANDOUT / AFP DNV: – Has measures to protect information The company where the Norwegian-Indian worked, DNV, tells news that they note that the espionage charge against the former employee has been dropped. Press contact Ulrike Haugen writes in an e-mail to news: – We have noted that the charge of espionage has been dropped, and that the indictment now does not apply to the handing over of information that is detrimental to national security. Having said that, DNV as a company handles a lot of important information. She points out that DNV maintains a close dialogue with the Norwegian security authorities. – When PST’s counterintelligence informed DNV’s security chief about such a contact, DNV was able to quickly form a picture of the former employee’s activities, access rights, authorisations, travel activities, roles, responsibilities and tasks and was able to share this with PST, writes Haugen. news has not been able to get a comment from the Russian embassy on this matter. Photo: Tomm W. Christiansen / news
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PST feared Norwegian citizens would give information about gas pipelines to Russia – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
