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Norway’s envoy to Moscow summoned after arrests of Russians

Moscow on Monday summoned the Norwegian ambassador after a number of Russians were arrested in the Nordic country over the use of drones.

Published: 28 November 2022 15:01 CET
Updated: 28 November 2022 17:13 CET
Pictured is the Kremlin.
Norway's envoy to Moscow has been summoned over the arrest of Russian citizens in Norway. Photo: People walk along a bridge in front of the Kremlin's tower in Moscow on November 6, 2022. Photo by Yuri Kadobnov / AFP.

The Russian foreign ministry said it had told Norway’s envoy Robert Kvile that Oslo should stop persecuting “Russian citizens on the basis of their nationality”.
 

Last week a Russian man was sentenced to 90 days in jail in Norway for flying a drone over Norwegian territory in violation of a ban adopted in
response to Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine.

Nearly a dozen Russians have been arrested in Norway in recent weeks for violating the flight ban or the ban on photographing sites deemed sensitive, as the country has heightened security around strategic infrastructure. The Norwegian ban includes the use of drones.

“We have noted that the sentences against the Russians are politically motivated and have nothing to do with the principles of fair and unbiased
justice,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Now Europe’s main supplier of natural gas, Norway has been on high alert since mysterious unmanned aircraft were spotted near strategic sites, including oil and gas platforms far offshore, over the past few weeks.

“Our ambassador took the opportunity to inform (Russia) of Norwegian legislation on sanctions,” Lars Gjemble, a spokesman for Norway’s foreign ministry, said in a comment to media on the summoning.

“He also reviewed the cases that are currently being processed in Norwegian courts. The meeting was held in a good tone,” he added.

The meeting with the Norwegian envoy took place on the eve of the opening of another trial in the northern city of Tromso, involving Andrei Yakunin — son of the former head of Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakunin, considered a confidant of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

The British-Russian national is accused of flying a drone in Svalbard during a trip around the strategically located archipelago in the Arctic.

His lawyer has stated he intends to use his British citizenship to ask for an acquittal.

Last month, the Russian embassy in Oslo criticised what it said was a “psychosis” in Norway, a NATO member with which Russia shares a 198-kilometre
(123-mile) border in the far north.

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MILITARY

Norway to hit ‘two percent’ NATO target ahead of schedule

Norway, whose neighbour Russia is now "more dangerous and more unpredictable", will reach NATO's two-percent spending target this year, two years earlier than expected, the prime minister said on Thursday.

Published: 14 March 2024 13:57 CET
Norway to hit 'two percent' NATO target ahead of schedule

The 2024 defence budget, initially expected to be around 8.0 billion euros ($8.75 billion), will be revised upwards in the spring budget bill, Jonas Gahr Støre said after meeting opposition leaders.

The Labour prime minister did not provide any detailed figures but said his country would this year reach the target set for NATO members, under which they are expected to dedicate at least two percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) to military spending.

“Russia has no interest in a military conflict with a NATO member,” Store said. “But we will likely have to cope for a long time with a more dangerous and more unpredictable neighbour, Russia.”

The Scandinavian country was a founding member of NATO in 1949 and shares a 198-kilometre (123-mile) border with Russia in the Far North.

With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a backdrop, Norway’s minority government will also present a white paper on April 5th outlining its defence plans for 2025-2028.

“Norway poses a threat to no-one,” Støre stressed. “It’s not a plan (to provoke) a conflict, it’s a plan to avoid conflicts.”

NATO is currently holding Nordic Response exercises in northern Europe, involving around 20,000 soldiers.

They include Swedish troops taking part for the first time since Sweden formally joining the transatlantic military alliance last week.

On Wednesday, another Scandinavian country, Denmark, said it would raise its defence spending by $5.9 billion over five years to boost its military capacity, pushing it past NATO’s spending target from this year.

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