COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) – The Norwegian government announced that 15 Russian diplomats working at the Russian embassy in Oslo would be deported on suspicion of espionage.
Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt said the move was “an important step to counter and deter Russian intelligence activities in Norway and thereby protect our national interests”.
The Russians declared persona non grata, stating that “they must leave Norway in a short period of time”, adding: “We do not issue visas to intelligence officials who apply for visas to Norway.”
“We are not talking about regular diplomats, but intelligence officers under diplomatic cover. Their activities are a threat to Norwegian interests,” Huitfeldt said.
Norwegian newspaper VG described Thursday’s expulsions as the most the Scandinavian country has ordered at one time involving Russian diplomats. The Russian embassy in Norway called the Norwegian government’s decision a “very unfriendly action” and promised to take “retaliatory measures” against the Russian government.
Huitfeldt reacted during an afternoon news conference, saying:
“Russia has no reason to respond. We have Norwegian diplomats stationed in Russia, but none of them are undercover intelligence officers.”
She called Russia “an unpredictable neighbor” and “many European countries in the past year have expelled hundreds of Russian intelligence officers under diplomatic cover.”
At the same time, she stressed that the government in Oslo wants “normal diplomatic relations with Russia, and that Russian diplomats are welcome in Norway”
“We do not want people who claim they are diplomats and who are actually are intelligence officers,” she said. “We cannot accept that.”
NATO-member Norway has a 198 kilometer-long (123-mile) border with Russia in the Arctic.
VG said that including the expelled diplomats, Russia had about 40 people working at its missions in Norway, which include the embassy in Oslo and consulates in Kirkenes and Barentsburg.
Barentsburg, located on the remote Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, is a Russian coal-mining town of about 500 people. Under the 1920 treaty, Norway has sovereignty over the archipelago more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) north of mainland Norway, but other signatories have the right to explore its natural resources.
A year ago, Norway deported three Russian diplomats she identified as intelligence agents.
A man accused by the Norwegian Police Security Service of using a false name and identity while actually working for Russia’s intelligence service last year was also arrested. He is awaiting trial in Norway.
