WW3 fears erupt as Russian infiltrators caught redhanded inside NATO country | World | News

Russian infiltrators have been caught inside a NATO country, as the Kremlin steps up its hybrid warfare against the West. Norway shares a long land border with Russia spanning almost 124 miles in the Scandinavian country’s far north.

As a founding member of NATO, the country has played a prominent part in the military alliance. Jens Stoltenberg – Norway’s Finance Minister – was NATO’s Secretary General for ten years from 2014 until 2024. As relations between Moscow and the West continue to deteriorate, Russia has stepped up its intelligence gathering activities in the Scandinavian country.

Russian spies have been caught redhanded trying to infiltrate Norway, posing as fishermen and tourists with Kremlin agents having been found entering the northern port city of Kirkenes, according to Norway’s military.

“We see a bigger threat up here and it is mainly espionage and gathering information,” Commander John Olav Fuglem of the Finnmark Brigade told Sweden’s SVT. “When you live here, you become a little more vigilant.

“And you quickly see if there are people with a different dialect who are walking around taking pictures, who are in places they should not be, or who are in places that are important to us. We notice that.”

The brigade was established last year, in response to increased Russian aggression and intelligence activity.

The unit is part pod broader plans to double the strength of Norwegian defence capabilities near the Russian border by 2032.

A Norwegian border guard also told SVT: ““We have a lot to do here at the border and we have a good dialogue with those who live in the area.

“They are attentive to whether there is something that does not seem right.”

Oslo has also had to contend with Russian fishing ships spying on Norwegian underwater infrastructure.

The government slapped sanctions last July on two of Russia’s largest fishing companies, Norebo and Murman Seafood, suspecting them of espionage.