The arrest comes after at least seven Russians — including the son of a close associate of President Vladimir Putin’s — were detained in recent weeks for flying drones or taking pictures near sensitive areas.
Norway and other countries in Europe are rushing to secure critical infrastructure after the sabotage of the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines. In recent months, there have been multiple drone sightings in Norway’s offshore oil and gas fields and at Norwegian airports.
The Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang first reported Thursday that the suspect attended the Sept. 29-30 seminar in Vilnius, Lithuania, on countering hybrid threats.
The seminar was hosted by EU-HYBNET, a European network on hybrid threats, which include sabotage, disinformation, cyberattacks and other means of fighting outside traditional state-to-state military conflict. The organization’s website and a conference brochure say the group is funded by the European Commission. A spokesperson for the commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Paivi Mattila, a professor at Laurea University of Applied Sciences in Finland who coordinates EU-HYBNET program, confirmed by phone that the suspected spy attended the event. She said he did not go through a security check but declined to comment further, citing the investigation.
An image shared on Twitter by Mykolas Romeris University, shows Giammaria seated among workshop participants at the event organized with the Lithuanian Cybercrime Center for Excellence for Training, Research and Education on Sept. 29.
A brochure for the seminar in Vilnius says participants in the event would examine different scenarios, including one case of a “gas flow shutdown after a gas pipeline explosion.” In the case study, the “initial findings support the assumption that probably it is about a sabotage and not an accident.”
Information about the suspect is still emerging. Norwegian domestic security officials announced the arrest this week, saying the suspect posed “a threat to fundamental national interests.”
There is concern he “may have acquired a network and information about Norwegian politics of the northern area,” Deputy Chief Hedvig Moe of the Norwegian Police Security Service told Norwegian media. Even if information the person acquired does not directly compromise Norway’s security, it could be misused by Russia, she said.
As of Oct. 21 Giammaria was listed as a researcher at the Norwegian think tank ‘The Grey Zone’ at The Arctic University of Norway. He is no longer listed on their site.”
Before moving to Norway, the suspect lived in Canada, where he attended the University of Ottawa and the University of Calgary. While in Ottawa, he volunteered to canvas for a local political campaign, according to Global News.
In 2019, he wrote an article for the Canadian Naval Review. The article, titled “Third Base: The Case for CFB Churchill,” argues in favor of establishing a naval base in Canada’s north.
The case comes months after another suspected Russian “illegal” was arrested in the Netherlands. In that case, a suspected Russian spy claimed to be a Brazilian seeking an internship at the International Criminal Court. He had previously studied in the United States.
