Security services say Norway energy industry faces Russia threats

Bluenord ASA

26/08/2024 19:14

* 
      Security services from seven countries briefed Norwegian
energy
executives
    

        * 
      Germany's Sinan Selen sees espionage and sabotage threats
from
Russia
    

        * 
      Norwegian intelligence warns of potential sabotage against
petroleum sector
    

  
    By Nora Buli and Nerijus Adomaitis
       STAVANGER, Norway, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Security services
from seven European countries on Monday briefed Norwegian energy
executives and officials, including from Equinor  EQNR.OL ,
Europe's largest gas supplier, about 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 the key
energy supplier to Europe.
    "We see a developing story which addresses not only Germany
or Norwegian colleagues but all of us," Sinan Selen, the vice
president of Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the
Constitution, told Reuters after the meeting.
    "This is a threat which comes from some counterparts like
Russia, including not only espionage operations but also the
risk of sabotage in some fields," he added, declining to discuss
specific cases.
In April, two German-Russian nationals were arrested in Germany
on suspicion of plotting sabotage attacks, including on U.S.
military facilities, in what officials called a serious effort
to undermine military support for Ukraine.
    The Russian Embassy in Germany has dismissed allegations
that it was behind the plans as "absurd and ridiculous".
The Norwegian intelligence agencies have also highlighted what
they term as the potential threat of Russian sabotage.
    "When we are talking about sabotage today, we are talking
about Russia," Beate Gangaas, the head of Norway's
counterintelligence agency PST, which organised the meeting on
the sidelines of the ONS energy conference, told Reuters.
    Norwegian intelligence agencies said earlier this year that
Russia "may find it prudent" to carry out physical or digital
acts of sabotage against targets in Norway, with its petroleum
sector being the prime target.
    After Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Norway, a
NATO member country that shares a border with Russia in the
Arctic, has become Europe's largest supplier of natural gas,
which is delivered via a vast subsea pipeline system.
    "Russia is in a lasting confrontation with the West, and
it's a regime that is willing to take more risk," Vice Admiral
Nils Andreas Stensoenes, the head of Norwegian Intelligence
Service, told an open-door meeting earlier on Monday. 
    "So, even though we haven't seen any concrete evidence on
plans to do anything in Norway, it's wise to be prudent and
increase the level of security," he added.

 (Reporting by Nora Buli and Nerijus Adomaitis; Editing by
William Maclean)
 ((mailto:Nora.Buli@thomsonreuters.com; (+47) 21 04 05 56;
Reuters Messaging:
rm://nora.buli.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net/))