Russian Geographical Society is recruiting spies in Norway under supervision of Russian Defence Minister

Current Time TV (Nastoyashee Vremya), a Russian TV channel, and System (Sistema), a Russian investigative journalism project, found out that the Russian Geographical Society is trying to recruit spies in Norway to gather information about the country’s military bases and energy infrastructure facilities.

Source: Current Time TV, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Ivan, an Oslo resident, whose full name is being withheld for safety reasons, contacted the journalists, claiming that Russian special services under the guise of the Russian Geographical Society had tried to recruit him via social media messengers.

Ivan claims that he was asked, among other things, to film "military bases" and, presumably, energy infrastructure facilities in cities in northern Norway, and then to "go to a geographical conference in Murmansk or Arkhangelsk" in Russia.

"They wanted all sorts of reports, for example, from a mosque: a scandal broke out after two guys from former Soviet republics, both Muslims, announced a same-sex marriage. The link between the LGBT community, Muslims, and the Geographical Society evades me," Ivan said.

He added that the recruiters offered him substantial financial remuneration in exchange for footage, more than US$1,000 for each day of filming.

Hanne Blomberg, the head of counterintelligence at the Norwegian Police Security Service, has confirmed that Russian intelligence services are trying to contact people, particularly people in vulnerable circumstances, through social media, offering "short-term cooperation" for money.

Current Time TV and System provided the Norwegian police with the information they obtained about Ivan’s two recruiters. An investigation was launched.

The Russian Geographical Society, under whose cover the recruitment was carried out, is not under EU and US sanctions. It is headed by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, and its board of trustees is chaired by Vladimir Putin.

Previously: Last year, Norway arrested and detained several Russian citizens who had drones; they were suspected of spying. One of the most high-profile cases was the detention of a man who pretended to be a Brazilian researcher called Jose Assis Giammaria, and who turned out to be a Russian GRU (the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation) officer, Mikhail Mikushin.

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