Norwegian police (PST) have arrested a man suspecte of being a Russian spy. In the city of Tromsoe on According to PST. The man, who works as a researcher at the University of Tromsoe, disguise. Him self as a Brazilian citizen but police. Believe his real identity is Russian people.
The news was first reported by Norwegian media, NRK. PST deputy head Hedvig Moe described the man as an “illegal agent”.
The man, he said, represented a threat to fundamental national interests and should be expel from Norway.
Moe explains that illegal agents are intelligence operatives with no official government ties who pose as private individuals. Often using the identities of dead people.
“Usually illegal agents are talent recruitment agents for later, and prepare a place for other spies to do regular intelligence work,” said Moe as quoted by the Reuters news agency, September 13 2023.
Norwegian police (PST)
The man’s lawyer did not return a request for confirmation.
According to Moe, the suspect was involve in a research group working with Norwegian government agencies on hybrid threats relate to Norway.
Norway, a NATO member, borders Russia in the Arctic and has stepped up security following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
The head of the man’s research group told Reuters that the suspect arrived in Tromsoe in December 2021 as an unpaid visiting researcher — something unusual
who had just earned a master’s degree in Canada.
Based on publicly available data, his master’s degree is from the University of Calgary’s Center for Military, Security and Strategic Studies. “He first contacted me last fall. We assessed him as we would any other researcher. One of the references was a professor I know very well,” said Gunhild Hoogensen Gjoerv, a professor of security studies at Tromsoe University.
Gjoerv added that the man was a very good person and also did a good job. He had no reason to suspect it was someone else. The arrest was the result of collaboration with several international security services. Moe declined to name the country. “Long-term projects have illegal agents,” Moe said. Major state actors just use them and it is known that Russia has used them in the past.
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