Norwegian student arrested on charges of US spying for Russia

OSLO, Norway — A 20-year-old Norwegian student was arrested on suspicion of spying for Russia and Iran while working as a guard at the US Embassy in Oslo Norway they said.

The man, who has not been identified, was ordered to be held for four weeks. He runs a security company along with dual citizenship of Norway and an unspecified Eastern European country, according to Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.

Oslo police said on Friday they would review the company’s operating license.

Norway’s national intelligence agency, PST, said late Thursday that the man was arrested in his garage at his home on Wednesday on suspicion of harming national security through his intelligence-related work.

The arrest warrant from the District Court says, among other things, that the police found recordings of the man’s assignment dialogue with a person who apparently guided his espionage activity, according to NRK.

The man admitted to collecting and sharing information with Russian and Iranian authorities, the court order said, according to NRK.

It is too early to talk about the details of the man’s activities, PST spokesman Thomas Blom said during a press conference Thursday evening. The intelligence agency confirmed that the man was employed as a security guard at the US Embassy in Oslo. There are no other suspects in this case.

The suspect’s lawyer, John Christian Elden, told NRK that the man admits to working for a foreign country, but pleads not guilty to espionage.

“He is accused of obtaining information that could harm the security situation of third countries,” Elden said.

It was revealed on Friday that the man is studying for a bachelor’s degree in security and training at Norway’s Arctic University, UiT.

This is the second such case at UiT in recent years, according to NRK.

One of the people the West swapped with Russia in a major prisoner swap in August was a UiT guest researcher who claimed to be a Brazilian named José Assis Giammaria and who was arrested on espionage charges in 2022. Police revealed to be Russian, Mikhail. Valerievich Mikushin.

Norway has a 123-mile border with Russia in the Arctic. Since the large-scale invasion of Russia Ukraine in February 2022, Norway heavily restricted the entry of Russian citizens.

In September, the Norwegian government said it was considering a plan to build a fence along all or part of its border with Russia.