By The Smartencyclopedia Staff & Agencies
Date: January 6, 2024
Norwegian intelligence has uncovered a startling revelation that some migrants who traveled from Russia to Norway through the Storskog border crossing in 2015 had received assignments from foreign secret services. Atle Tangen, Head of Counterintelligence at the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST), disclosed this information during a podcast interview with Norwegian government-owned broadcasting company NRK.
Tangen stated, “We discovered that foreign services were sending people on [spy] missions.” He confirmed that the PST had not previously made this information public and did not provide details on the fate of the individuals exposed as spies. Tangen emphasized that these individuals were not traditional intelligence agents but rather people coerced into carrying out assignments through deception or threats.
“These people were taken care of and dealt with in various ways. I don’t want to say anything regarding their nationality,” Tangen mentioned, underscoring the sensitivity of the matter.
Tangen refrained from using the term “spies” to describe these individuals, highlighting that they were not conventional intelligence operatives. Instead, they were forced to conduct assignments on behalf of intelligence organizations through manipulation or intimidation.
The Norwegian security official revealed that illegal intelligence operations against refugees are ongoing, with intelligence organizations recruiting refugees heading to Norway to force them into conducting unlawful intelligence activities. Due to the ongoing nature of these activities, Tangen refrained from providing further details at this time.
The backdrop of this revelation is the influx of hundreds of asylum-seekers from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and other countries cycling to the Norwegian border from the Russian side in 2015. The situation underscores the vulnerability of migrants who may become unwitting targets for intelligence operations.
This disclosure follows recent incidents involving individuals suspected of spying for Russian secret services in neighboring countries. Employees of the Latvian State Security Service detained a Russian citizen, and a court in the Polish city of Lublin found 14 individuals from Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine guilty of preparing sabotage operations in favor of Moscow as part of a spy network.
The revelations from Norwegian intelligence shed light on the complex intersection of migration and espionage, raising concerns about the exploitation of vulnerable individuals for intelligence purposes. The ongoing challenges and risks associated with illegal intelligence activities targeting refugees emphasize the need for continued vigilance and international cooperation to address these security threats.