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SPYING

‘Friends should not monitor eachother’: PM

Norway's Prime Minister is demanding that the US provide a report on the extent to which Norwegians have been targeted by the National Security Agency's spying programmes, after declaring that "allies and friends should not monitor one another".

'Friends should not monitor eachother': PM
Photo: Johan Helgasson (File)
Erna Solberg revealed her request at a press conference on Monday afternoon
 
"We are interested to know more about this,"  she said. "Our embassy in Washington will consult with the Americans to examine the question whether there has been any monitoring."
 
Solberg over the weekend came close to condemning the NSA spying programmes revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden in an interview with state broadcaster NRK. 
 
"I think that allies and friends should not monitor eachother," she said. "Monitoring and terrorism-prevention is an important part of what we do in the world, but not between friends." 

 
Norway is considering joining forces with 20 other UN countries in a general resolution aimed at reining in the spying programs carried out by America's National Security Agency (NSA).
 
The draft, a joint initiative from Germany and Brazil, has already attracted the support of 19 other countries, according to Foreign Policy magazine. It follows allegations that the NSA had wiretapped the phone of German chancellor Angela Merkel. 
 
The draft document, which has been leaked, does not refer to recent US spying scandals but does state in its objectives that it wants to reaffirm "the human right of individuals to privacy and not to be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with their privacy, family, home or correspondence." 
 
It also says that the UN and its member states are “deeply concerned at human rights violations and abuses that may result from the conduct of extra-territorial surveillance or interception of communications in foreign jurisdictions.” 
 
The other countries behind the general resolution are: Sweden, Switzerland, France, Austria, Hungary, and Liechtenstein from Europe; Argentina, Bolivia, Guyana, Paraguay, Uruguay, Mexico, Cuba, Ecuador and Venezuela, from Latin America; and South Africa. 
 
Solberg told NRK that it was important to recognise that countries need active intelligence services. 
 
"I think it's good that we are having a discussion about this, but it is important that we have a sober discussion and remember that intelligence is allowed, and is in fact necessary to prevent terror attacks."
 

Jonas Gahr Støre, the foreign minister in the last Labour-led government, said he would not be surprised to learn that Norwegian ministers' communications had been monitored. 
 
"It would be naive to assume that this does not happen to us because we are Norwegian," he told Dagsavisen newspaper. 
 
He was sceptical, however, about the idea of bringing in international agreements to prevent excesses like those the NSA has recently been accused of. 
 
"I do not have any illusions that it would be possible to investigate regulate monitoring through international agreements, although certainly the issue has been raised in international forums. 
 
"Those who carry out this work, operate in a separate sphere on the basis of safety considerations and interests of the nation, and historically they seem pretty immune to international law," he said. 
 
Audun Lysbakken, head of the Socialist Left party has called for a commission to assess the level of monitoring that Norwegians are exposed to, updating the work of a similar commission called the Lund Commission 17 years ago. 
 
A spokesperson for the US state department said they would review the document when it was made available, according to Foreign Policy magazine. 
 

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RUSSIA

Germany arrests Russian scientist for spying for Moscow

German police arrested a Russian scientist working at an unidentified university, accusing him of spying for Moscow, prosecutors said on Monday, in a case that risks further inflaming bilateral tensions.

Germany arrests Russian scientist for spying for Moscow
Vladimir Putin. Photo: dpa/AP | Patrick Semansky

Federal prosecutors said in a statement that the suspect, identified only as Ilnur N., had been taken into custody on Friday on suspicion of “working for a Russian secret service since early October 2020 at the latest”.

Ilnur N. was employed until the time of his arrest as a research assistant for a natural sciences and technology department at the unnamed German university.

German investigators believe he met at least three times with a member of Russian intelligence between October 2020 and this month. On two occasions he allegedly “passed on information from the university’s domain”.

He is suspected of accepting cash in exchange for his services.

German authorities searched his home and workplace in the course of the arrest.

The suspect appeared before a judge on Saturday who remanded him in custody.

‘Completely unacceptable’

Neither the German nor the Russian government made any immediate comment on the case.

However Moscow is at loggerheads with a number of Western capitals after a Russian troop build-up on Ukraine’s borders and a series of espionage scandals that have resulted in diplomatic expulsions.

Italy this month said it had created a national cybersecurity agency following warnings by Prime Minister Mario Draghi that Europe needed to
protect itself from Russian “interference”. 

The move came after an Italian navy captain was caught red-handed by police while selling confidential military documents leaked from his computer to a Russian embassy official.

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The leaders of nine eastern European nations last month condemned what they termed Russian “aggressive acts” citing operations in Ukraine and “sabotage” allegedly targeted at the Czech Republic.

Several central and eastern European countries have expelled Russian diplomats in solidarity with Prague but Russia has branded accusations of its involvement as “absurd” and responded with tit-for-tat expulsions.

The latest espionage case also comes at a time of highly strained relations between Russia and Germany on a number of fronts including the ongoing detention of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who received treatment in Berlin after a near-fatal poisoning.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government has moreover worked to maintain a sanctions regime over Moscow’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula, the scene of ongoing fighting between pro-Russia separatists and local forces.

And Germany has repeatedly accused Russia of cyberattacks on its soil.

The most high-profile incident blamed on Russian hackers to date was a cyberattack in 2015 that completely paralysed the computer network of the Bundestag lower house of parliament, forcing the entire institution offline for days while it was fixed.

German prosecutors in February filed espionage charges against a German man suspected of having passed the floor plans of parliament to Russian secret services in 2017.

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas last week said Germany was expecting to be the target of Russian disinformation in the run-up to its general election in September, calling it “completely unacceptable”.

Russia denies being behind such activities.

Despite international criticism, Berlin has forged ahead with plans to finish the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, set to double natural gas supplies from Russia to Germany.

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