Norway's domestic security agency said on Tuesday it has detained a man who entered the country as a Brazilian citizen but is suspected of being a Russian spy. A local court ordered him held for four weeks.
Martin Bernsen, a spokesman for the Norwegian Police Security Service, known as PST, confirmed a suspected spy had been detained and said the case was "huge", but didn't go into details.
The man was associated with Russian intelligence service
The man was detained on Monday in the Arctic city of Tromsoe, Norwegian public broadcaster NRK said, adding that investigators believe he was in NATO-member Norway under a false name and identity while working for one of Russia's intelligence services.
Norwegian Police Security Service deputy chief Hedvig Moe told NRK that the man had been based at the Arctic University of Norway in Tromsoe as "a Brazilian researcher" and would be expelled from the Scandinavian country, "because we believe he represents a threat to fundamental national interests".
The security service, known as PST, "is concerned that he may have acquired a network and information about Norway's policy in the northern region", Moe said, according to NRK.
"Even if this network or the information bit by bit is not a threat to the security of the kingdom, we are worried that the information could be misused by Russia." Moe told NRK that the Norwegian agency has collaborated with other unspecified countries' security services.
"International cooperation is important in the work with illegals because they are very careful and are often good at hiding and operating for a long time in the country," Moe was quoted by NRK as saying.
The said person was a 'guest lecturer'
In a statement, Arctic University of Norway administrator Jorgen Fossland said the person in question was "a guest lecturer" at the school. Fossland referred other questions to the security service.
The lecturer was apprehended on Monday on his way to his job, NRK said.
The man who has neither Russian nor Norwegian citizenship, arrived in Norway in 2021, and has researched the northern regions and hybrid threats, Norwegian media wrote. Norway's Arctic border with Russia is 198 kilometres (123 miles) long.
His attorney, Thomas Hansen, told the VG newspaper the man denies any wrongdoing. The man was Tuesday detained for four weeks before a local court, VG reported.
Several Russian citizens have been detained in Norway in recent weeks. They include three men and a woman who were seen allegedly taking photos in central Norway of objects covered by a photography ban. They have since been released.
European nations have heightened security around key energy, internet and power infrastructure following underwater explosions that ruptured two natural gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea that were built to deliver Russian gas to Germany.
The damaged Nord Stream pipelines off Sweden and Denmark discharged huge amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the air.
