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Security services from seven European countries briefed Norwegian energy executives and officials on Monday, including those from Equinor, Europe’s largest gas supplier, on what they see as Russian threats to critical infrastructure.
The closed-door meeting, attended by national security services from Norway, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and Iceland, highlighted Norway’s role as a major energy supplier to Europe.
“The developments we are seeing concern not only our colleagues in Germany or Norway, but all of us,” Sinan Søren, deputy director of Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, told Reuters after the meeting.
“The threat comes from some of our peers, such as Russia, and includes not only espionage but also the risk of sabotage in certain areas,” he added, declining to discuss specific cases.
In April, two Russian nationals of German descent were arrested in Germany on suspicion of planning sabotage attacks, including against U.S. military facilities, in what officials described as a serious attempt to undermine military support for Ukraine.
The Russian Embassy in Germany denied the accusation that it was behind the plan, calling it “absurd and ridiculous.”
Norwegian intelligence agencies have also highlighted what they say is the potential threat of Russian sabotage.
“When we talk about sabotage today, we are talking about Russia,” Beate Gangaas, head of Norway’s counterintelligence agency PST, which organized the meeting, told Reuters.
Norway’s intelligence agency said earlier this year that Russia “might consider it prudent” to carry out acts of physical or digital sabotage against Norwegian targets, with its oil sector being a prime target.
In the wake of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, NATO member Norway, which borders Russia in the Arctic, has become Europe’s largest supplier of natural gas, delivered through a vast system of undersea pipelines.
“Russia is in a permanent confrontation with the West and the regime is willing to take more risks,” Vice Admiral Nils Andreas Stensones, head of the Norwegian Intelligence Service, said at a public meeting earlier on Monday.
“So even though we haven’t seen any concrete evidence of any action being taken in Norway, it would be wise to proceed with caution and increase the level of security,” he added.
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