A court in Norway charged an employee of the Arctic University in Tromsø with espionage in favour of Russia, NRK broadcasting company reports.
The man was arrested on 25 October. According to the investigation, he resided in Norway with false Brazilian documents and was carrying out reconnaissance activities for the Russian government. Norwegian intelligence services also say that the man has a Russian passport.
It is reported that the man in question is Mikhail Vladimirovich Mikushin, born in 1978. He lived in Norway under the name José Assis Giammaria.
He was accused of illegal reconnaissance that could undermine the basic national interests of Norway and the security of other states. The man communicated with the court in English, despite the fact that he was provided with a Portuguese interpreter. He denied any ties with Russia and said he was a citizen of Brazil.
Christo Grozev, an investigator with Bellingcat, said on Twitter that Mikhushin is a GRU (Russian military intelligence) agent.
Bellingcat found out the email address used to file an application as well as a password to it. A number of other accounts were linked to the same password, some of them with Russian email addresses. One of them was dubbed Mika_Invasor, which means Mikhail the Invader.
The investigators also found Mikushin’s driver’s license.
“Bingo! He [Mikhail Mikushin] was registered at the address of the dormitory of the GRU academy. Which means he’s no less than a colonel! Great job, Norway — you've caught yourself a colonel from the GRU,” Grozev wrote.
It is worth noting that Grozev’s suggestion that Mikushin is a colonel is doubtful, as lower-rank officers can also be admitted to the GRU military academy.
Bellingcat has also discovered that Mikushin has outstanding property tax in Russia. The man under the same name also travelled back and forth to Russia several times, namely in 2015 and 2020.
Over the past month, 10 people have been detained in northern Norway (where strategic facilities are located) for suspicious activity that might be beneficial to the Russian government. Furthermore, Norwegian journalists noted that the Russian Orthodox Church had acquired several properties not far from military bases in Norway at once.
Andrey Yakunin, the son of former Russian Railways head Vladimir Yakunin, in custody, is among the detained. The appeals court of Hålogaland, Norway, ruled to keep Yakunin in custody earlier for using drones on Svalbard.