Russia can attack Norwegian gas deposits if the conflict of Moscow and NATO intensifies, the country’s police agency (PST) believes. This is reported by Reuters with reference to the report of the department.
So far, PST doubts that Russia will decide on the acts of sabotage in Norway in 2023, but this may change, the agency notes in the report. It all depends on how much the escalation in Russia’s relations with the West will intensify. This is the first time since the beginning of the war, when the Norwegian police warned about the danger from Moscow.
Norway was concerned about the safety of its oil and gas facilities after explosions on the Russian gas pipeline “Northern Stream – 1”.
On September 26, explosions occurred on two knots of the pipeline, as a result of which it failed. The investigation of the explosions continues, it is conducted by investigators from Germany. They have not yet found evidence that Russia is behind explosions and do not exclude other versions.
At the same time, after the incident, Oslo strengthened security measures at their oil and gas facilities, and NATO allies began to assist them to protect them. PST explains this by the fact that Norway in 2022 became a key supplier of gas for the European Union.
After Russia began the gas war with Europe and greatly cut the supply of energy resources, Norway became one of the main suppliers. “The role of Norway as a supplier of energy carriers to Europe has acquired even more importance for security policy as a result of a war in Ukraine,” the PST report said in the report.
For this reason, the Norwegian police expects that in 2023 Russia will strengthen intelligence. Russian intelligence services will try to collect intelligence on the oil and gas and energy sectors of Norway, the department said.