Security services say Norway energy industry faces Russia threats

STAVANGER, Norway (Reuters) – Security services from seven European countries on Monday briefed Norwegian energy executives and officials, including from Equinor, 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)